Fordham beats La Salle again: Explorers fall to the Rams after picking up a win against Richmond

By Mike McDonald
Collegian Editor
January 31, 2007

After getting a win against Richmond Wednesday, the Explorers lost to the Fordham Rams Saturday for the third time in two seasons. The Explorers had a chance to win two games and get closer to .500 in the conference, but instead went 1-1 on the week.

On Wednesday, La Salle hosted the Richmond Spiders at Tom Gola Arena. Richmond entered the game with a 5-13 record, including 1-4 in the Atlantic 10.

This was an ugly game. Both teams shot under 30 percent from the floor in the first half, and Richmond committed 11 fouls. The Spiders committed 21 more in the second half, giving them a grand total of 32 fouls on the night. The Explorers took a 25-17 lead into the break.

In the second half, the Explorers pulled away. Richmond could not keep up with La Salle, and they never made the deficit less than six. The final score was La Salle 79, Richmond 56.

Junior Darnell Harris led the way, finishing with 18 points.

“It was a good win, and it was a win that we needed,” Harris said. “We’ve got to play our game.”

Freshman Rodney Green scored 15 points, and junior Sherman Diaz came off the bench to score 12.

“We had a lot of people contribute tonight,” Coach John Giannini said. “A lot of people played well.”

La Salle did an excellent job of rebounding in the game, as the Explorers out-rebounded the Spiders, 54-25.

“We knew we had to rebound,” Richmond guard Ryan Butler said. “We just didn’t do it.”

For the most part, Giannini seemed pleased with his team’s effort Wednesday night.

“I tend to think rebounding is a better measure of effort than defense is,” Giannini said. “We’ve done pretty well offensively and done a good job rebounding. Tonight we made real progress defensively.”

Good defense by the Explorers held Richmond to just 32.8 percent shooting on the night.

“They have some very athletic and aggressive players who really get after the ball,” Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. “La Salle killed us on the boards and went to the line almost triple what we did.”

The Explorers went 37 for 47 from the free throw line, while Richmond was 11 for 17.

The Fordham Rams came to the Tom Gola Arena on Saturday, and they brought a pretty sizable student/cheering section with them. And unfortunately for La Salle, the Rams also brought some good team defense.

This Fordham team beat the Explorers twice in a span of eight days at the end of last season. La Salle fell to Fordham at Rose Hill Gym March 1, 2006. The two teams then met up in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament March 9. Fordham ended the Explorers’ season with a 64-62 defeat at the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.

La Salle’s Fordham woes continued as, this time around, the Explorers struggled offensively all day long. In the first half, La Salle shot only 20.6 percent from the field.

“Offensively, we were just horrible,” Giannini said. “We really had some weak-side kick-outs open, and we just couldn’t find them.”

But because they did a good job playing defense and rebounding, they trailed by only five at the half.

The Explorers took a 37-34 lead with 12:48 remaining in the game on a three-point play by Darnell Harris. These were Harris’ only three points of the contest. Soon after this, Harris injured his ankle and had to be helped off the court. He would later re-enter the game.

After Fordham took a 41-39 lead, they never relinquished it. In the end, the Explorers fell to the Rams, 62-54. Fordham improved to 12-7 (5-2 in the A-10).

Rodney Green led the Explorers in this game with 12 points. Freshman Ruben Guillandeaux finished with 10 points, and senior Mike St. John had seven points and six rebounds.

La Salle dominated Fordham on the glass, finishing with a 46-26 edge in rebounds.

“Our kids gave a very strong effort, as evidenced by the rebounding and the defense,” Giannini said.

But whatever the Explorers gained from rebounds, they lost due to turnovers. La Salle turned the ball over 21 times. Of the nine players who saw action on Saturday, only Brian Grimes had less than two turnovers (he had none). Fordham turned those turnovers into 23 points.

Also missing from the La Salle offense was the three-point shot. As a team, the Explorers shot only 1-for-9 in the game. Overall, the squad shot 33 percent from the field.

“It was a bad offensive performance by everyone,” Giannini said. “I’ll remember this game as an offensive nightmare for us.”

The Explorers now stand at 9-12, with a 2-5 A-10 record. Up next is a trip to Charlotte on Wednesday night. On Sunday, La Salle will travel to the Liacouras Center to play Temple.

mcdonaldm2@lasalle.edu