Men's hoops running out of chances for A-10 Tournament

By Mike McDonald
Collegian Editor
February 28, 2007

The Explorers’ Atlantic 10 Tournament chances were damaged Saturday when La Salle was beaten by George Washington, but those chances were just about killed by a St. Bonaventure win later that night.

Sophomore Paul Johnson shoots over a pair of G.W. defenders. - Mike Dao

The Explorers entered the Tom Gola Arena on Saturday needing a win in the worst way, but the George Washington Colonials had other plans. The Colonials were clearly not the great team they had been the year before, but they had enough weapons to defeat La Salle, 86-74.

Things never looked very positive for the Explorers in this one, a game in which they were flat-out beaten by the Colonials. A Darnell Harris three-pointer tied the game at 14, but after that it was all G.W.

The Colonials hit a few baskets to go in front. With 9:25 remaining in the first half, La Salle senior Mike St. John knocked down a three to make it 22-19 in favor of the Colonials. The next Explorer field goal was a three-pointer by Harris, but a lot happened between those two baskets.

Between the La Salle field goals by St. John and Harris, 10 minutes and 19 seconds of game time elapsed. The bucket by Harris did not come until there was 19:06 left in the second half. And in that span of 10:19, George Washington went on a 22-8 run that basically put the game out of reach.

“I think it had a lot to do with their defense,” La Salle coach John Giannini said of the Explorers’ shooting woes. “It had something to do with our shot selection, but I think they’re pretty long, pretty quick and pretty athletic. Our shot selection was not great, but I give them a lot of credit.”

At halftime, George Washington led by 15. In the first half, La Salle shot only 25 percent from the floor, while G.W. shot an impressive 54.8 percent. The Explorers only made one basket in the first half that was not a three-pointer, as they went 5-for-13 from beyond the arc and only 1-for-11 inside of it.

The Explorers picked up the pace in the second half and played pretty good basketball, but the damage had already been done. The Explorers actually outscored the Colonials in the second half, 47-44.

“The poor first half had a lot to do with us losing that game, but the second half was pretty evenly played,” Giannini said. “Once again, defensively we just don’t seem to be able to get big stops. When we cut [the deficit] to 10 or below, we just didn’t stop them enough to continue any runs. I thought we played harder in the second half.”

“I’m disappointed that we just didn’t execute down the stretch,” George Washington coach Karl Hobbs said. “I thought that when we had a chance to really create some space, we allowed them to attack us in transition. You’ve got to give this young [La Salle] team a great deal of credit. They kept playing, right down to that last buzzer. Those young guys, in time, I’ve got a feeling that they’re going to be pretty good.”

For George Washington, it was Strawberry Mansion’s Maureece Rice leading the way. Rice scored 21 points on 7-for-14 shooting to lead all scorers. Dokun Akingbade and Carl Elliott both registered double-doubles for the Colonials. Akingbade scored 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while Elliott finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. George Washington completed the game shooting 51.6 percent, including 42.9 percent from three.

The Explorers had sizable offensive contributions from a number of players. Freshman Ruben Guillandeaux scored 15 points to lead La Salle, and freshman Rodney Green, St. John and Harris all scored in double-figures as well. La Salle closed out the game shooting only 35.5 percent from the field.

Much of this game was decided in the paint, where La Salle was outscored, 44-20. All but two of those 20 Explorer points came in the second half. George Washington took home the win and improved to 9-5 in the Atlantic 10 and 18-8 overall. The Explorers dropped to 3-11 in the conference and 10-18 overall.

“I think GW’s very good; there’s no question that as a team and as a program, that they are a couple steps ahead of us,” Giannini said. “We have a lot of work to do, and we’ll get the work done, and we’ll continue to close the gap.”

The loss was a huge blow to the Explorers’ A-10 Tournament hopes. The situation worsened later Saturday night, as St. Bonaventure defeated Duquesne.

At this point, La Salle is just about out of tournament contention. To get into the tournament, the Explorers will need to win at Massachusetts Wednesday night and beat Xavier here on Saturday. They will also need St. Bonaventure to lose to Fordham Wednesday and then lose at Charlotte Saturday.

Saturday’s game against Xavier will be played at the Tom Gola Arena and is scheduled for a noon start.

mcdonaldm2@lasalle.edu