AP Photo

March 11, 2009 | AP Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Kwamain Mitchell scored 18 points, including a layup with 1.8 seconds left in overtime, to lift Saint Louis to a 62-60 victory over La Salle in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Kevin Lisch added 11 points for the Billikens (18-13, 9-8), who snapped a three-game losing streak to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals against No. 19 Xavier, the tourney’s top seed. Rodney Green had a game-high 24 points for the Explorers (18-13, 9-8), while Kimmani Barrett had 10 points.

Green’s floater gave La Salle a 60-58 lead with 1:10 left in overtime, but Tommie Liddell tied it with a layup with 42 seconds left. After La Salle’s Darryl Partin missed a layup with 10 seconds left, Mitchell drove right and scored on a high-arcing layup to put St. Louis up two.

Green’s desperation shot from halfcourt at the buzzer missed.

Starting Thursday afternoon, John Lamb of A10CollegeHoops.com will be courtside at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ to bring you live coverage of the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Conference Tournament. We will be giving you with live updates throughout the day. If it happens on the court, you will read about it right here.

With so many players, media personalities and other distinguished guests in the house you can bet that we will have plenty of interviews and other features to keep you busy in-between sessions. John will also be running a live blog for each game in case you don’t have access to television or radio.

Keep it here even after your favorite team experiences the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat as we will be sharing audio from all of the post game press conferences that take place throughout the week.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please feel free to contact us via the link at the top of the page, by posting in the comments section or reaching out to us during one of the live blogs.

Finally, here is a down and dirty version of how John thinks tomorrow’s set of games will play out.

#8 La Salle vs. #9 St. Louis – This is certainly an interesting matchup as these two teams played this passed Saturday. Just like the last meeting, La Salle walk out with the W and move on to Day 2 of the tournament. This time they will do it by beating St. Louis at their own game: defense. This will be an ugly, defense-first kind of game.  EXPLORERS 62, BILLIKENS 54

#5 Saint Joseph’s vs. #12 Charlotte – SJU handled the 49ers in their previous matchup back in January but that was then and this is now. Neither team is really setting the world ablaze as Charlotte has dropped four of five since upsetting Xavier at Halton Arena and the Hawks have played .500 ball to the tune of 7-7 since defeating Charlotte. Although Coach Martelli has been justifying playing four of his five starters for 34 minutes-plus a game by saying that they are t0o young to be tired, it looks like the Hawks are running on fumes. Charlotte pulls off the minor ‘upset’ and we will be left wondering just how good Ahmad Nivins would have been if he had a complete team around him. 49ERS 74, HAWKS 67

#7 Duquesne vs. #10 Massachusetts – The resurgent Dukes of Duquesne played Umass in late February in Amherst and walked away with a 17 point victory. Massachusetts has talented players in  Chris Lowe, Tony Gaffney and Ricky Harris but they haven’t fully absorbed Derek Kellogg’s system. The Dukes, on the other hand, have become a dangerous team in league play under third-year coach Ron Everhart. Gone are the days of Duquesne being an automatic ‘W’ as this squad is for real and could give Rhode Island some serious competition. The Dukes lost by two to the Rams on March 1 and would love nothing better than to end URI’s season. DUKES 83, MINUTEMEN 71

#6 Richmond vs. #11 St. Bonaventure – This is an intriguing match up as one of the Bonnies six A-10 victories came at the expense of the Spiders back in January. Coming into this game there are those that are calling Richmond a dark horse to win it all. I suppose beating the best team in the conference on your home floor can get people talking about you. The Spiders have one of the best young coaches in the game in Chris Mooney and two talented guards: David Gonzalvez and Kevin Anderson. The Bonnies have a tremendous talent of their own in the form of A-10 Rookie of the Year Andrew Nicholson. While I think that Richmond will win the game and go on to face Dayton on Thursday, St. Bonaventure may very well be a force in the Atlantic 10 next year. The Bonnies will return four of their five starters and all but one of their contributing bench players. Mark Schmidt should be commended for the job he is doing with a program that was once a laughingstock. SPIDERS 67, BONNIES 61

John Lamb can be reached at johnlamb@a10collegehoops.com

AP Photo

March 7, 2009 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS — Rodney Green scored 24 points and LaSalle overcame an early 14-point deficit to defeat Saint Louis 68-62 in an Atlantic 10 Conference game on Saturday night.

The Explorers (18-12, 9-7 A-10) ended the regular season with their fourth straight victory. They did so after falling behind 22-8 with 10:58 to play in the first half. Darryl Partin and Vernon Goodridge each tallied 13 points in the victory.

The Billikens (17-13, 8-8 A-10), who dropped their third straight, got a career-high 26 points from freshman Kwamain Mitchell. Willie Reed scored 13 points and Kevin Lisch added 10.

The Billikens opened up a 42-33 lead after Mitchell knocked down a 3-pointer with 15:19 to play in the game. But the Explorers used a 17-3 run over the next eight minutes to gain a lead they would never relinquish.

The Explorers shot 58 percent from the field in the second half (14-for-24) and outscored the Billikens 40-28 after trailing 34-28 at the half.

March 4, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA — Kimmani Barrett scored 19 points and Rodney Green had 16 as La Salle pulled away in the last 10 minutes and defeated Fordham 79-59.

Ruben Guillandeaux added 13 points for the Explorers (17-12, 8-7 Atlantic 10), who hit on 31 of 62 shots in Wednesday’s game.

Jio Fontan had 23 points and Alberto Estwick 15 for the Rams (3-24, 1-14), who lost their ninth in a row.

The Explorers never trailed in the game, and led by 12 points twice in the second half before Fordham rallied to within 56-52 with 9:11 left in the game.

Barrett then scored 11 points during a 16-2 run, and La Salle built a 72-54 advantage with 3:46 to go.

The Rams kept close in the first half, but La Salle, who hit on 11 of 30 3-point shots in the game, led 37-30 at halftime.

AP Photo

March 1, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA — Rodney Green and Darryl Partin each scored a career-high 30 points to lead La Salle past Massachusetts 97-88 on Sunday.

Ruben Guillandeaux added 14 points while Vernon Goodridge had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Explorers (16-12, 7-7 Atlantic-10), who set season highs in both points and 3-pointers (10).

Ricky Harris scored 20 points, all in the final 11:12, and Anthony Gurley also had 20 for the Minutemen (10-17, 5-9), who have dropped four of their last five. Chris Lowe added 15 points and nine assists and David Gibbs had 10 points.

La Salle led 46-29 at halftime and extended the margin to 26 points twice in the second half. A three-point play by Guillandeaux gave the Explorers a 72-46 lead with 11:21 remaining.

Massachusetts used runs of 11-2 and 11-3 to cut the margin to 84-75 on a layup by Lowe with 2:23 left. But the Explorers hit 13 of 14 free throws in the final 2:16 to seal the win, with Green going 6-for-6 and Partin 5-for-6.

AP Photo

February 26, 2009

John Lamb | A10CollegeHoops

PHILADELPHIA – Before tipoff, it was not too hard to imagine tonight’s game against La Salle as a trap game for Temple with Dayton, a game with NCAA and A-10 implications, on the schedule for Saturday.

Temple Head Coach Fran Dunphy stated that his staff has not spoken one word about Dayton this week. Senior Dionte Christmas said that the players were focused on La Salle and La Salle only.

It sure did not look that way as the Explorers (15-12, 6-7 A-10, 3-1 Big 5) were able to defeat the Owls (17-10, 9-4, 1-2) 70-63 at the Liacouras Center on Thursday night. The Explorers had never won a game in the Liacouras Center in seven previous attempts.

La Salle was led by junior Rodney Green who scored 22 points off the bench and dished out a game-high eight assists. This was the first game in close to two seasons that Green was not in the starting lineup for the Explorers. La Salle’s head coach Dr. John Giannini said that the shakeup was due, in part, to a change in philosophy after his team lost at home to Duquesne this past Sunday.

“I’ve been extremely loyal to great kids. Rodney’s recruiting class and Paul Johnson came to La Salle at a critical point in our program when it wasn’t a popular place to go,” said Giannini, who has guided the Explorers to their best Big 5 finish since the 4-0 Lionel Simmons team from 1989-90. “But, we feel at this point that we should be better than what we are and loyalty needs to be a two-way street.”

“What we’ve done is start guys who win in practice. Everyone played hard but we need to start to reward guys who win and that starts in practice. We had three October-type practices. We had practices were the winners got to start and guys who weren’t winning were not going to start. Every job is open. As much as I love Rodney, as much as I love all our guys we’re going to start to be more fair than loyal.”

Green did not seem too distraught about Giannini’s new approach: “You win in practice and you start. That’s how it should be. It’s good to see that it paid off today.”

Darryl Partin and Steve Weingarten were the surprise starters. Partin hit two three-pointers in the first half but missed all six of his shots in the second and finished the night with a 2-for-12 shooting line, including 2-of-8 from beyond the arc. Weingarten tied his career high with 2 points in 10 minutes on the court.

Kimmani Barret was also a big part of La Salle’s success. The junior guard scored 20 points with eight of them coming from the foul stripe. Temple repeatedly put the 74 percent free-throw shooter on the line down the stretch and he made them pay by going 5-of-7 in the second half.

Temple took a 34-31 lead into the half thanks to Ryan Brooks’ big shots. The Owls were down 28-27 with a little over three minutes left in the half when Christmas found Brooks alone in the corner on a fast break for a wide open three to regain the lead.

On the next Temple possession, Brooks was on the receiving end of a slick Juan Fernandez pass that led to an easy layup and pushed the Owls’ lead to four.

Both Brooks and Christmas finished the half with 11 points. Christmas went on to score a team-high 19 while  Brooks was held scoreless in the second half.

“Coach talked about it at halftime, we knew they got good shooters in Brooks and Christmas,” said Green. “We gave them some easy shots in the first half. We just had to stop them in the second half.”

The Owls could have taken a larger lead into the break but Semaj Inge picked up two costly fouls at once. He was hit with a technical foul after arguing with the referee on his original call of a reach-in on Barrett. He ended up hitting both technical free-throws and splitting the one-and-one.

Needless to say, Dunphy was not pleased with the way his senior captain reacted.

“Obviously Semaj said something that the official didn’t like,” said Dunphy. “It ruined the rhythm of where we were. It’s not something I was pleased about. You don’t ever want your guys to get technicals. I don’t get technicals so there is no need for the kids to get them.”

Both teams traded baskets and leads after the break. La Salle was able to build a five point lead with 8:44 remaining in the game. Inge hit a floating jumper to cut the lead to three and then Dionte Christmas stole the inbounds pass and hit a three to tie the game at 53 with 8:11.

Temple had all of the momentum at that point but, on the ensuing possession, Green hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to silence the crowd and put the Explorers on top for good.

“The biggest play of the game was when we tied it back up again and Rodney Green stepped up and made a huge three,” said Dunphy. “It was a terrific shot and they deserved to win the game. Their will was certainly greater than ours tonight.”

“[Rodney's] mindset was get it and run it right down our throat.”

The Owls had a chance to make things interesting at the end of the game as Green received an inbounds pass and then stepped on the baseline to give the ball back to Temple with 51 seconds left. Down only four points, Inge rushed a three-pointer that missed when he could have  driven to the basket. Green grabbed the rebound and the Explorers were able to hold on.

Christmas continued his recent trend poor shooting from behind the three-point line. He shot 3-of-11 for the game from three. As a team, the Owls shot just 29 percent (7-of-24).

The Owls received solid contributions from Sergio Olmos and Lavoy Allen. Olmos scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds. Allen nabbed 12 boards, to go along with eight points and three blocks.

Allen was a huge factor in Temple’s previous victory over La Salle at the Tom Gola Arena so it was a bit odd that he only took six shots. Dunphy said that it was a mixture of the Explorers’ defense and Temple’s perimeter players not looking for him enough.

The Explorers held a 42-34 rebounding advantage, including 16 offensive boards to Temple’s nine. La Salle was also able to get out in transition as they scored 22 fast break points to the Owls’ two.

Next up for the Owls is trip out to Dayton, Ohio for a showdown with the Flyers on Saturday afternoon. La Salle will welcome UMass to the Tom Gola Arena on Sunday afternoon.

POST GAME AUDIO: (right click and save as.. if you have trouble opening)
Dr. John Giannini and Rodney Green Press Conference
Fran Dunphy and Dionte Christmas Press Conference

John Lamb can be reached at johnlamb@a10collegehoops.com

From the Explorers’ Website:
PHILADELPHIA, PA – La Salle University men’s basketball junior Yves Mekongo Mbala (Elizabeth, NJ/St. Patrick’s) has been named to the ESPN the Magazine/CO-SIDA Academic All America Team.

Mekongo Mbala is just one of 15 players in America to be named to one of the three teams.  A second team selection, Mekongo Mbala boasts the highest grade point average of the five players on the second team and only four of the players on the first team have a higher GPA.

Until suffering a hand injury that has kept him out of the last five games Mekongo Mbala had posted a team high streak of 60 consecutive starts.  At the time of his injury he was, and remains, the team’s leading rebounder (6.4 rpg) as well as its third-leading scorer with 11.1 points per game.

Mekongo Mbala, a major in Integrated Science, Business & Technology, is one of just three underclassmen named on all three teams.

He becomes the fourth Explorer men’s basketball player to be named Academic All-American since Jack Hurd earned the nod in 1992.  The other Explorers to earn the honor are ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler (1988) and current Philadelphia 76′ers head coach Tony DiLeo (1977).

February 22, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Aaron Jackson scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half to lead Duquesne to a 79-68 win over La Salle Sunday.

Damian Saunders added 22 points, matching his career high, for the Dukes (16-9, 7-5 Atlantic 10), who had lost three of their last four.

Rodney Green had 14 points to lead four players in double figures for the Explorers (14-12, 5-7), who dropped their second straight.

The victory guarantees Duquesne its second straight winning season, marking the first time since the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons they will finish above .500 in two straight campaigns.

Jackson got Duquesne off to a strong start, making seven of his first nine shots to finish with 17 points in the first half and help the Dukes to a 44-41 lead at the break. Vernon Goodridge’s layup 13 seconds into the second half brought La Salle within 44-43. But the Dukes scored the next six points and the Explorers never got closer than three the rest of the way.

Eric Evans also reached double figures for Duquesne with 11 points, while Saunders set a career high with 14 rebounds. Kimmani Barrett and Paul Johnson had 12 points apiece for La Salle, and Goodridge finished with 11.

February 18, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Kevin Anderson scored a career-high 28 points to lead Richmond to a 62-53 victory over La Salle on Wednesday night.

Jarhon Giddings had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Spiders (13-13, 5-6 Atlantic 10), who won for just the second time in seven games.

Rodney Green had 13 points for La Salle (14-11, 5-6), which shot a season-worst 28.1 percent (18-for-64) from the field while matching its season-low for points.

After trailing 30-25 at the break, La Salle opened the second half on an 11-0 run to take a 36-30 lead with 15:16 left. But Richmond scored eight of the next 10, capped by an Anderson layup, to tie it at 38 with 12:14 remaining.

The Spiders then took control with a 9-2 run over the next 2:49, ending on a driving layup by Anderson, to take a 47-40 lead. The Explorers never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Richmond won despite a season-low five points from leading scorer David Gonzalvez, who entered averaging 16.8.

February 14, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Rodney Green scored 20 points and Kimmani Barrett added 20 as La Salle upset city rival St. Joseph’s 75-68 Saturday.

Jerrell Williams had 12 points and Ruben Guillandeaux added 11 points and 8 assists for La Salle (14-10, 5-5 Atlantic 10), while Darrin Govens had 21 points and Ahmad Nivins 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Hawks (14-10, 7-3).

Nivins, whose 20 points per game leads the conference in scoring, was held to only three shot attempts in the game.

La Salle never trailed in the second half, and twice led by 10 points before the Hawks closed to 57-53 with 4:52 left. The Explorers then went on a 10-3 run, capped by a three-point play by Guillandeaux at the 1:27 mark, which helped seal the win.

The Hawks jumped out to an early 20-8 advantage, but La Salle responded with a 17-2 run helped by two treys by Green to lead 25-20. La Salle led 35-30 at the half, heading off 40 shots while making 15.

St. Joseph’s went 7 for 18 and committed 12 turnovers.