Frustration continues for Explorers

By Mike McDonald
Collegian Editor
January 30, 2008

This week, the Tom Gola Arena played host to two of the more entertaining basketball games of the season so far, but for the Explorers, the week will simply go down as two more losses, courtesy of late collapses and mental mistakes.

The Charlotte 49ers entered Philadelphia with an 11-6 record, including a 2-1 mark in the Atlantic 10. But despite Charlotte’s vast advantage in record (La Salle was 7-9), the game turned out to be a very closely-matched contest.

Mike Dao - Charlotte’s Leemire Goldwire leans back to shoot over La Salle’s Ruben Guillandeaux.

It was evident right from the start that this game would be a fast-paced matchup, and this came as no surprise to Charlotte head coach Bobby Lutz.

“I thought the game would be fast-paced, because we like to play fast, and I thought that at home [La Salle] wouldn’t slow down,” Lutz said.

The 49ers jumped out to an early lead due to some hot three-point shooting, but they cooled off and the game tightened up. Charlotte led 24-18 at just past the ten minute mark, but the Explorers closed out the rest of the half with solid play over a 22-13 stretch. La Salle led at the break, 40-37.

Both teams used very balanced attacks in the first half, as there were no players in double figures in scoring after the first 20 minutes. La Salle held the halftime advantage in rebounding, at 22-15.

La Salle senior Darnell Harris led all scorers at halftime, scoring nine first-half points on 4-for-5 shooting.

The second half got off to a back-and-forth start, and as the crowd started to get fired up, it became evident that the intensity level was there on both sides.

“I don’t know that we [were ready] in the first half, but we were aware that we didn’t quite have it,” Lutz said. “So in the second half I challenged the guys and they really responded.”

With nine minutes remaining in the game, the score was tied at 61, but over the next seven minutes, the 49ers went on a 13-3 run that opened things up. Two momentum-builders for Charlotte came from alley-oops provided by guard Mike Gerrity, whose second-half performance was integral in Charlotte’s takeover.

“I got into a comfort zone in that second half,” Gerrity said. “I got a bunch of minutes, and I just was trying to make the most out of them. It was a total team effort, and everybody had to step up in order to get this win.”

Charlotte was able to hang on, despite a late La Salle rally. The final score was Charlotte 84, La Salle 78. Each team finished with four players scoring in double figures.

The 49ers’ Leemire Goldwire led all scorers, with 18, but it was key for Charlotte to get other people involved.

“If I can come in and just try to give us a boost, whether it’s with shooting or energy or anything like that, maybe they can’t just focus strictly on [Goldwire],” Charlotte guard Ian Andersen said. “Maybe they have to play us [man-to-man], and I think when any team plays us [man-to-man] we’re pretty tough to beat.”

According to Explorers head coach John Giannini, it all boils down to making plays.

“Let’s recognize that we got beaten by a good team that made us pay for our mistakes,” Giannini said. “The other reason we lost is that we absolutely did make those mistakes. It was a three-point game when they got five straight. They had a player go all the way in for a layup unguarded with us not knowing who had him, then the next possession down Goldwire makes a three on the right hand side, and we’re late on him, and all of a sudden a three-point game is an eight-point game within thirty seconds.”

According to sophomore Ruben Guillandeaux, this trend of losing close games at the end is getting a little old.

“The frustration is growing, but we just really have to learn how to win in the latter stages of the second half,” Guillandeaux said. “We just have to learn how to get stops and try to get buckets on the other end.”

Sophomore Yves Mekongo Mbala thinks the team needs to work on its focus.

“I think it’s just maybe that we lose focus a lot on the court,” Mekongo Mbala said. “Each and every one of us, at some point, just makes mistakes that cost us.”

Regardless of the tough loss, the Explorers had to pick up the pieces and try their luck against the Saint Louis Billikens on Saturday afternoon.

The Saint Louis game immediately resembled the Charlotte game from three days prior. Both teams came out playing fast, and the Explorers went up 8-4. That’s when Saint Louis came to life. They ripped off eight straight points and showed the La Salle faithful that they were ready to shoot the ball.

But the Billikens didn’t cool down, as they continued to shoot the ball at an extremely high percentage. La Salle was able to stay right with them, though, and the Billikens held only a three-point lead at the break, despite shooting 54.8 percent from the field.

For La Salle, freshman Jerrell Williams was playing great. At halftime, he was tied for the game high with 11 points, and he had already grabbed seven rebounds. Williams went on to record his sixth double-double of the season, and he was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for the third time.

The game continued on at the same fast pace, and Saint Louis just couldn’t miss. In the second half, the Billikens shot an astounding 73.9 percent from the floor, and La Salle just couldn’t keep up. The Explorers fell, 81-74, in entertaining, yet frustrating fashion once again.

On the game, Saint Louis shot 63 percent, while the Explorers shot 43.6 percent. Billikens head coach Rick Majerus was happy with his team’s performance.

“We had better execution with our offensive plays,” Majerus said. “When we made mistakes, we responded, so that was pretty good.”

Majerus sees a lot of similarities between La Salle and Saint Louis, both in terms of their physical makeup and their on-the-court strategies.

“We have the same problems they have,” Majerus said. “With all of their guys being the same size, they switch like we switch on defense. We’re both largely undersized.”

Saint Louis guard Kevin Lisch led all scorers with 22 points, while forward Luke Meyer chipped in with 18.

Mekongo Mbala led the Explorers, scoring 18 points on the night.

After the two-loss week, La Salle fell to 7-11 (2-3) on the season. Next up for the Explorers are the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, who will be in town Wednesday night.

mcdonaldm2@lasalle.edu