AP Photo

March 7, 2010 | Atlantic10.com

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Junior guard Kevin Anderson of Richmond has been named the 2009-10 Atlantic 10 men’s basketball Player of the Year in voting conducted among the Conference’s 14 head coaches.

The A-10 coaches also selected Fordham’s Chris Gaston as the Rookie of the Year, Chris Johnson of Dayton as the recipient of the Chris Daniels Award as the league’s most improved player, Temple’s Ramone Moore as Sixth Man of the Year, Damian Saunders of Duquesne as Defensive Player of the Year and Temple’s Fran Dunphy as Coach of the Year. In addition, Yves Mekongo of La Salle was tabbed Student-Athlete of the Year in voting among the league’s sports information directors.

Anderson ranks fifth in the Conference in scoring (17.8 ppg.) while leading the third-seeded Spiders to program highs in both regular season (24) and A-10 (13) victories. A second-team selection a year ago, the native of Duluth, Ga., has scored 20 or more points 12 times this season and also leads UR in assists (83) and steals (56). Anderson is the program’s first student-athlete to be tabbed A-10 Player of the Year since UR entered the league in 2001-02.

A two-time Player of the Week selection this season, Anderson is joined on the All-Conference first-team by Lavoy Allen of Temple, Xavier’s Jordan Crawford, Damian Saunders of Duquesne and Dayton’s Chris Wright. Crawford leads the A-10 in scoring at 19.7 ppg., while Wright garnered second-team distinction last season. For the first time in the league’s 34-year history, the first-team All-Conference consists of only sophomores and juniors.

The All-Conference second-team includes Temple’s Ryan Brooks, David Gonzalvez of Richmond, La Salle’s Rodney Green, Kwamain Mitchell of Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson. Teammates Keith Cothran and Delroy James of Rhode Island, Massachusetts’ Ricky Harris, Jason Love of Xavier and Charlotte’s Shamari Spears were named to the third team. Temple’s Juan Fernandez, Damian Hollis of George Washington and Willie Reed of Saint Louis earned honorable mention acclaim

A four-time A-10 Rookie of the Week selection, Gaston leads all freshmen nationally in both scoring (18.0 ppg.) and rebounding (11.4), while his 504 points are the most by a freshman in team annals. The 6-7 forward leads the A-10 with three 30-point performances, pulled down at least 10 rebounds on 20 different occasions, and registered 19 double-doubles. Gaston is the third Fordham student-athlete to earn A-10 Rookie of the Year distinction, joining Bevon Robin (1998) and Bryant Dunston (2005).

Gaston is joined on the All-Rookie team by Chris Braswell of Charlotte, Cody Ellis of Saint Louis, George Washington’s Lasan Kromah, Aaric Murray of La Salle and Rhode Island’s Akeem Richmond.

The first-ever Duquesne player to garner A-10 Defensive Player of the Year distinction, Saunders enters this week’s A-10 Championship atop the league in both blocked shots (93) and steals (84) while averaging 14.9 ppg. and 11.4 rpg. The Waterbury, Conn., resident boasts 19 double-doubles and 19 performances with double-digit rebounds. Moreover, his 84 steals are tops in program history. The All-Defensive team is comprised of Saunders, Allen, Gonzalvez, Dayton’s London Warren and Garrett Williamson of Saint Joseph’s. Allen, Warren and Williamson are repeat selections.

Johnson was tabbed the recipient of the Atlantic 10’s Chris Daniels Award, presented to the Conference’s most improved player. A year ago, the 6-6 forward averaged 6.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and knocked down 24 field goals from beyond the arc. This season, the Columbus, Ohio, native enters the A-10 Championship ranked second on the Flyers in both scoring (11.8 ppg.) and rebounding (7.0 rpg.) while boasting 55 three-point field goals. He has grabbed 10 or more rebounds six times this season and has three 20-point performances to his credit.

Moore has provided a spark off the Temple bench in his sophomore campaign, averaging 7.6 points and dishing out 47 assists in just 17.6 minutes per game. In A-10 play, the 6-4 guard from Philadelphia, Pa., averaged 9.8 points on 51.3 percent shooting (61-for-119).

A three-time Academic All-Conference selection, Mekongo recently earned CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first-team distinction. The senior forward from Elizabeth, N.J., boasts a 3.81 grade point average while majoring in Integrated Science, Business & Technology. A second-team Academic All-American a year ago, Mekongo averaged 11.0 points and finished his career with 1,014 points. Joining Mekongo on the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference Team are Brian Conklin of Saint Louis, Duquesne’s Jason Duty, Kurt Huelsman of Dayton and Rhode Island’s Will Martell.

Now in his fourth season at Temple, Dunphy guided the Owls to their first A-10 regular season title since 2002 and the top seed in this week’s Atlantic 10 Championship. Ranked 16th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and 20th in the Associated Press top 25, TU compiled a mark of 14-2 in Conference play, while its 26 regular-season victories equaled the Owls’ second-highest total in team history. In addition, Temple leads the league in both scoring defense (56.8 ppg.) and field goal percentage defense (38.1). The Owls have captured the last two A-10 Championships and are 81-48 (.628) under Dunphy.

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.

March 9, 2009 | Atlantic 10 Website

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Saint Joseph’s senior forward Ahmad Nivins has been named the 2008-09 Atlantic 10 men’s basketball Player of the Year in voting conducted among the Conference’s 14 head coaches.

The A-10 coaches also selected Andrew Nicholson of St. Bonaventure as the Rookie of the Year, Duquesne’s Aaron Jackson as the Chris Daniels Award recipient as the league’s most improved player, Delroy James of Rhode Island as Sixth Man of the Year, Massachusetts’ Tony Gaffney as Defensive Player of the Year and Rhode Island’s Jim Baron as Coach of the Year. In addition, Kevin Lisch of Saint Louis was tabbed Student-Athlete of the Year in voting among the league’s sports information directors.

Ahmad Nivins – Saint Joseph’s Hawks (F)

Nivins enters this week’s Atlantic 10 Championship (Mar. 11-14) in Atlantic City tied with Temple’s Dionte Christmas for the scoring lead with an average of 19.2 ppg. A third-team selection a year ago, the 6-9 forward from Jersey City, N.J., leads the Conference in rebounding (11.7 rpg.), minutes (39.43 mpg.) and double-doubles (20), while his league-best .625 shooting percentage (193-of-309) puts him on pace to join former George Washington standout Alexander Koul (1995-97) as the only players in A-10 history to lead the league in field goal percentage three consecutive years. A member of the All-Defensive Team, Nivins is the fourth player in SJU annals to earn the league’s Player of the Year honor and first since sharpshooter Pat Carroll in 2004-05.

A five-time Player of the Week selection this season, Nivins is joined on the All- Conference first-team by Christmas, Jimmy Baron of Rhode Island, Aaron Jackson of Duquesne and Xavier’s B.J. Raymond. Christmas is vying to become the league’s first-ever three-time scoring champion, while James is the first Duquesne player to garner first-team distinction since Mike James in 1997-98. The All-Conference second-team consists of Gaffney, Richmond’s Kevin Anderson, Derrick Brown of Xavier, Rodney Green of La Salle and Dayton’s Chris Wright. The third-team includes Lisch, Lavoy Allen of Temple, Massachusetts’ Ricky Harris, Lamont Mack of Charlotte and Rhode Island’s Kahiem Seawright.

Xavier’s C.J. Anderson, David Gonzalvez of Richmond, Dayton’s Marcus Johnson, Chris Lowe of UMass, and Damian Saunders of Duquesne earned honorable mention acclaim.

A program-record six-time A-10 Rookie of the Week selection, Nicholson enters this week’s A-10 Championship as the top freshman nationally in both blocked shots (79) and field goal percentage (.607 – 150-of-246). The Mississauga, Ontario, native is tied for second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg.) and third in rebounding (6.0 rpg.) and scored in double figures in 20 of the Bonnies’ 29 contests. The 6-9 forward is the first SBU freshman to garner Rookie of the Year honors since Alvin Lott in 1983-84.

Nicholson is joined on the All-Rookie team by Melquan Bolding of Duquesne, Fordham’s Jio Fontan, Dayton’s Chris Johnson and Kwamain Mitchell of Saint Louis.

With 113 blocks and 59 steals entering Massachusetts’ opening round contest versus Duquesne on Mar. 11, Gaffney is the first player nationally since Shelden Williams (Duke, 2005-06) to register 100 blocks and 50 steals in a season. The senior forward leads the A-10 in blocks (3.90 bpg.), ranks second in rebounding (10.2 rpg.) and steals (2.03 spg.) and pulled down at least 10 rebounds in 18 of the Minutemen’s 29 games.

The All-Defensive team is comprised of Gaffney, Allen, Nivins, Dayton’s London Warren and Garrett Williamson of Saint Joseph’s.

Jackson was tabbed the Atlantic 10’s Chris Daniels Award, presented to the Conference’s most improved player. A year ago, the Hartford, Conn., resident averaged nine points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. This season, the senior guard has blossomed into one of the most complete players in the Conference, ranking in the top five of the league in scoring (third – 18.3 ppg.), assists (third – 5.79 apg.), field goal percentage (fourth – .543) and steals (fifth – 1.72 spg.). The versatile James has provided a spark off the bench for the Rams as a junior, averaging 10.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in just 24.2 minutes per game. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native ranks third on the team in assists (65) and has a pair of 20-point performances to his credit.

A two-time Academic All-Conference selection, Lisch is averaging a team-leading 14.2 points and also leads the Billikens in three-pointers (69) and steals (37) en route to earning All-Conference honors for the second consecutive year. In the classroom, the Belleville, Ill., resident boasts a 3.48 grade point average while majoring in Business Administration. He was named to the 2008-09 CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine All-America third-team.

Joining Lisch on the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference Team is Baron, Massachusetts’ Luke Bonner, Jason Duty of Duquesne and La Salle’s Yves Mekongo Mbala.

Selected by the league’s head coaches and media to finish ninth in the A-10 preseason poll, Baron led Rhode Island to an 11-5 league mark and 22-9 overall record. URI enters the Championship as the second seed and boasts the league’s highest scoring offense, averaging 80.1 ppg. The only coach in league history to earn A-10 Coach of the Year honors at two different schools, Baron was tabbed as the Conference’s Coach of the Year in 1995 while at St. Bonaventure and at Rhode Island in both 2003 and 2007. In eight seasons at URI, Baron is 130-116 (.528) and 336-318 overall (.514).

2008-09 ATLANTIC 10 MEN’S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS First-Team School Cl. Pos. Ht. Hometown PPG RPG Asts Stls Blks

First-Team

Jimmy Baron Rhode Island Sr. G. 6-3 East Grennwich, R.I. 16.8 2.7 60 22 2
Dionte Christmas Temple Sr. G 6-5 Philadelphia, Pa. 19.2 6.1 88 41 5
Aaron Jackson Duquesne Sr. G 6-4 Hartford, Conn. 18.3 5.7 168 50 3
Ahmad Nivins Saint Joseph’s Sr. F 6-9 Jersey City, N.J.     19.2 11.7 32 19 55
B.J. Raymond Xavier Sr. G/F 6-6 Toledo, Ohio 13.8 4.2 46 17 12 

Second-Team

Kevin Anderson Richmond So. G 5-11 Duluth, Ga. 16.2 2.9 82 44 2
Derrick Brown Xavier Jr. F 6-8 Dayton, Ohio 13.8 6.1 61 21 28
Tony Gaffney Massachusetts Sr. F 6-8 Berkley, Mass. 11.5 10.2 49 59 113
Rodney Green La Salle Jr. G 6-5 Philadelphia, Pa. 17.6 4.9 105 56 5
Chris Wright Dayton So. F 6-8 Trotwood, Ohio 13.1 6.5 29 28 37  

Third-Team

Lavoy Allen Temple So. F 6-9 Morrisville, Pa. 11.1 8.6 62 13 48
Ricky Harris Massachusetts Jr. G 6-2 Baltimore, Md. 18.2 2.9 44 37 5
Kevin Lisch Saint Louis Sr. G 6-2 Belleville, Ill. 14.2 3.4 75 37 1
Lamont Mack Charlotte Sr. F 6-7 Chicago, Ill. 15.1 5.6 27 24 10
Kahiem Seawright Rhode Island Sr. F 6-8 Uniondale, N.Y. 13.8 7.4 68 25 31

Honorable Mention

C.J. Anderson Xavier Sr. G/F 6-6 Cincinnati, Ohio 10.2 5.6 68 19 17
David Gonzalvez Richmond Jr. G 6-4 Marietta, Ga. 15.6 4.6 59 39 14
Marcus Johnson Dayton Jr. G 6-3 Cleveland, Ohio 12.1 3.2 50 26 15
Chris Lowe Massachusetts Sr. G 6-0 Mount Vernon, N.Y. 12.1 3.0 190 22 2
Damian Saunders Duquesne So. F 6-7 Waterbury, Conn. 13.3 7.9 66 66 66 

Rookie Team

Melquan Bolding Duquesne Fr. G/F 6-4 Mount Vernon, N.Y. 9.0 4.1 34 28 6
Jio Fontan Fordham Fr. G 5-11 Patterson, N.J. 15.3 2.7 132 33 3
Chris Johnson Dayton Fr. G/F 6-5 Columbus, Ohio 6.5 5.4 18 17 5
Kwamain Mitchell Saint Louis Fr. G 5-10 Milwaukee, Wis. 10.0 3.2 106 35 1
Andrew Nicholson St. Bonaventure Fr. F 6-9 Mississauga, Ontario 12.5 6.0 7 79 16 

Defensive Team

Lavoy Allen Temple So. F 6-9 Morrisville, Pa. 11.1 8.6 62 13 48
Tony Gaffney Massachusetts Sr. F 6-8 Berkley, Mass. 11.5 10.2 49 59 113
Ahmad Nivins Saint Joseph’s Sr. F 6-9 Jersey City, N.J.     19.2 11.7 32 19 55
London Warren Dayton Jr. G 6-0 Jacksonville, Fla. 4.2 2.7 126 48 4
Garrett Williamson Saint Joseph’s Jr. G 6-5 Lower Merion, Pa. 5.9 3.7 135 43 36

Academic Team

Jimmy Baron Rhode Island Sr. G 6-3 East Greenwich, R.I. Communication Studies
Luke Bonner Massachusetts Gr. C 7-1 Concord, N.H. Sports Management
Jason Duty Duquesne Jr. G 6-1 Cranberry Township, Pa. Accounting
Kevin Lisch Saint Louis Sr. G 6-2 Belleville, Ill. Business Administration
Yves Mekongo Mbala La Salle Jr. F 6-7 Elizabeth, N.J. Integrated Science & Business Technology

Player of the Year: Ahmad Nivins, Saint Joseph’s

Rookie of the Year: Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure

Defensive Player of the Year: Tony Gaffney, Massachusetts

Chris Daniels Most Improved Player of the Year: Aaron Jackson, Duquesne

Sixth Man of the Year: Delroy James, Rhode Island

Student-Athlete of the Year: Kevin Lisch, Saint Louis

Coach of the Year: Jim Baron, Rhode Island

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

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.