Duquesne brings the pain

By Mike McDonald
Collegian Editor
February 13, 2008

Some teams like to take their time setting up plays and creating opportunities. It’s pretty safe to say that Duquesne isn’t one of those teams.

The Dukes use an exciting, fast-paced style of play that makes for fun basketball, but when they get hot, this style of play can prove to be quite lethal for opponents.

Mike Dao - Duquesne’s Aaron Jackson shoots over Rodney Green.

This was the case Saturday afternoon when the Dukes faced off with the Explorers at the Tom Gola Arena, as Duquesne topped La Salle, 101-84.

“We just got outplayed in every area of basketball today,” La Salle head coach John Giannini said. “I thought they were better passers, they were better shooters, they were better defenders and they were better rebounders. We just got outplayed by a team that was clearly the better team today.”

The Explorers got themselves into trouble right out of the gate, as Duquesne opened up the game with a 20-8 stretch over the first eight minutes.

“I didn’t think our energy was great,” Giannini said. “I think we’ve cut back on our practices, but maybe I need to cut back a little bit more, because we did not look like we were fresh and had a lot of energy.”

It was evident early that La Salle was going to struggle inside against Duquesne’s size. The Dukes started to get away from pounding the ball inside, though, and while they were missing a handful of three-pointers, the Explorers were clawing their way back into it.

The pace of the game remained very fast, but for a while it was the Explorers who were controlling the action. The game was tied at 35 with three and a half minutes remaining, but Duquesne ripped off a 10-2 run to close out the half and go into the break with the momentum. The halftime score was Duquesne 45, La Salle 37.

Throughout the game, the players and coaches on both teams had some issues with the officiating, and the crowd seemed to have a few concerns at various points as well.

As the second half got started, the quick pace continued, but the game took on a more physical tone. Duquesne had more success inside, and the second half began with a 16-8 run that put the Dukes up by 16, at 61-45.

La Salle wasn’t dead yet, as the Explorers fought back once again. Back-to-back threes by senior Darnell Harris capped an 18-4 La Salle run that cut the deficit to two, at 65-63 with 10:30 remaining.

“With a team that plays as aggressively as Duquesne does - and I say that as a great compliment – the score can go one way or another very quickly,” Giannini said.

This was the closest it would get the rest of the way. Duquesne’s Reggie Jackson answered back with a three, which was followed by an Aaron Jackson three, and then another one from Reggie. This put the Dukes up by 11 and pretty much finished off the Explorers.

“I don’t even think I could pin it on one particular thing, but the turning points in the game did occur when there defensive pressure did hurt us,” Giannini said.

The teams went back and forth, but La Salle wasn’t able to build anything substantial in the game’s closing minutes. Duquesne led 99-81 when Bill Clark and Gary Tucker decided it was a good idea to add the exclamation point with an alley-oop off the glass with 18 seconds left.

On the day, sophomore Rodney Green led all scorers with 24 points. Kieron Achara paced Duquesne with 21 of his own. The Explorers shot only 22.7 percent from three-point range on the day and were outscored in the paint 50-36.

“I thought our lack of skill was very evident,” Giannini said. “It really exposed some things that we need in our program. Basically, we’re a team of mid-sized guys, and they’re a team of guards and big guys. Their big guys were bigger and more effective around the basket than us, and their small guys were a little quicker and more skilled, and it completely worked to their advantage.”

La Salle had fewer turnovers than Duquesne, but the Dukes were able to turn La Salle’s 16 turnovers into 27 points, compared to the 17 points La Salle scored off 20 Duquesne turnovers. The Dukes recorded 28 assists to the Explorers’ 15, and the Explorers were outrebounded 41-32.

For the second straight game, the Explorers were without the services of sophomore guard Ruben Guillandeaux, due to a quad contusion. Freshman guard Kyle Griffin missed the game as well, as he has still not returned from the knee injury he suffered in practice on Jan. 19.

With the loss, La Salle drops to 4-5 in the conference, while Duquesne improves to 5-4. The Explorers’ next game will be a non-conference home matchup with New Jersey Tech Wednesday Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.

mcdonaldm2@lasalle.edu