Explorers

La Salle lost its hopes for qualifying for the Catholic League North Division playoffs yesterday when it lost a hard-fought, 61-58, decision to host Bishop Kenrick. The two teams played evenly throughout the game. The Explorers outscored the Knights by 13 points in the second quarter, and the Knights came back to outscore La Salle in the third quarter. The loss dropped La Salle's league record to 8-8 and its overall record to 12-13. Kenrick improved its league record to 10-6.

Was La Salle's Kevin Long, still feeling the effects of a flu that had arrived over the weekend, hoping rain would arrive as predicted and push back a Catholic League baseball quarterfinal vs. St. Joseph's Prep? "No, I was ready to go," he said. "Breathing was difficult for me at times, but I knew I'd be able to tough it out. " Long, looking anything but worn down or sluggish, pitched a one-hitter with five strikeouts as the host Explorers silenced the Hawks, 6-0, Tuesday in a game that lasted 1 hour, 33 minutes.

La Salle fought back from a horrendous first half to trail by just one in the closing minutes of last night's game with Texas-El Paso, but the Miners hung on to win, 69-62, in the opening game of the Sun Carnival Classic. "I thought we had them back on their heels, and I thought we had an opportunity to win it," coach Speedy Morris said. "But to their credit, UTEP kept their composure. " The Explorers (2-7), who had trailed by 14 points at the half, closed the gap 59-58 on a basket and free throw from Romaine Haywood with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left.

OLEAN, N.Y. - The La Salle Explorers played as if they didn't want their season to end. The reward is a trip to the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals. La Salle recovered from a 14-point, second-half hole, somehow made up a seven-point deficit in the first overtime and finally won it in double overtime. Steve Weingarten hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 31.5 seconds left in the second overtime and the Explorers advanced to Atlantic City with a stunning 75-73 victory over St. Bonaventure in a first-round A-10 tournament game on Tuesday at the Reilly Center.

The La Salle women's soccer team drew the No. 25 ranking in the Soccer America poll this week. It's the first-ever appearance in the national rankings for the Explorers, who are the only Division I team in the nation - men or women - not to have allowed a goal this season. La Salle goes into Friday's home game against No. 19 Dayton (7 p.m.) with a 10-0-1 record. The Explorers received votes in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America national poll for the second straight week and remain third in the Mid-Atlantic region.

La Salle erased two ugly memories with its 66-60 victory at North Catholic yesterday. One recalled a game that had taken place less than 48 hours earlier. The other was ancient history, a specter more than 10 months old. A 50-29 loss to Bishop McDevitt on Friday night had embarrassed the Explorers. La Salle scored just 16 points in the first three quarters, and coach Marty Jackson inserted underclassmen from the junior varsity for the last 10 minutes. At practice the next day, Jackson rolled the tape from last March's 60-48 playoff defeat at North Catholic.

La Salle muscled its way past a banged-up Bishop Egan team Saturday for a 41-0 rout in Catholic League play. The Explorers stand at the top of the league's Northern Division at 3-0-1 and 6-0-1 overall. The Eagles hold down the other end of the division at 0-4 and 1-5. "Egan is really banged up, and that has everything to do with everything," Explorers coach Joe Colistra said. "We played well when we had to, I guess you'd say. It was an even game early on, but let's face it, Egan is banged up. " The Eagles had three first-half turnovers, but they managed to hold the Explorers to just a 14-0 lead after touchdown runs by Max Guevara and Bill Tatar.

Eight Explorers scored in double figures yesterday as La Salle opened the San Juan Shootout with a 117-86 rout of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez at Mario Morales Coliseum. La Salle (4-4) had its highest scoring output since a 120-88 victory over Iona on Jan. 4, 1992. Freshmen Jerrell Williams (20 points) and Kyle Griffin (16) posted career highs to lead the winners. Griffin hit 5 of 7 shots, including four three-pointers. Omar Velasquez sank a three-pointer for Mayaguez (1-9) to cut the La Salle lead to 54-50 with 19 minutes, 19 seconds to play, but Rodney Green hit a layup and Darnell Harris added a three-pointer to pad the Explorers' advantage.

Rasual Butler and Julian Blanks combined for 26 points last night, but they were unable to lift La Salle to a first-round victory in the Cable Car Classic in San Jose, Calif. The Explorers fell to Butler, 43-36, in front of 2,588 at San Jose Arena. The Bulldogs held the Explorers to their lowest point total in school history. La Salle lost to Evansville, 63-41, on Feb. 11, 1993, in its previous low. La Salle forged a 23-20 halftime lead over the Bulldogs, but managed only 13 second-half points as the team hit just 5 of 28 shots from the field.

Melvin Bryant set a school record with a 99-yard kickoff return, but La Salle couldn't sustain an offense yesterday and lost to visiting Fairfield, 25-14, at McCarthy Stadium. La Salle fell to 0-2; Fairfield improved to 1-1. The game was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener for both teams. Fairfield's defense held the Explorers to one first down in the second half and minus-1 yard rushing for the game. The Stags' Rishawd Watson ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns, while Andrew Turf caught 11 passes for 136 yards.

Was La Salle's Kevin Long, still feeling the effects of a flu that had arrived over the weekend, hoping rain would arrive as predicted and push back a Catholic League baseball quarterfinal vs. St. Joseph's Prep? "No, I was ready to go," he said. "Breathing was difficult for me at times, but I knew I'd be able to tough it out. " Long, looking anything but worn down or sluggish, pitched a one-hitter with five strikeouts as the host Explorers silenced the Hawks, 6-0, Tuesday in a game that lasted 1 hour, 33 minutes.

Was La Salle's Kevin Long, still feeling the effects of a flu that had arrived over the weekend, hoping rain would arrive as predicted and push back a Catholic League baseball quarterfinal vs. St. Joseph's Prep? "No, I was ready to go," he said. "Breathing was difficult for me at times, but I knew I'd be able to tough it out. " Long, looking anything but worn down or sluggish, pitched a one-hitter with five strikeouts as the host Explorers silenced the Hawks, 6-0, Tuesday in a game that lasted 1 hour, 33 minutes.

Montclair State defeated Rowan, 1-0, on Sunday to win the NCAA Division III softball regional in Union, N.J. The Red Hawks (42-7) advanced to the national championships scheduled for May 18-22 in Salem, Va. Rowan, which defeated Moravian, 1-0, Sunday morning to make the championship game, finished 39-9. Both Profs' losses in the double-elimination were to Montclair, including a 3-2 defeat in eight innings on Saturday. Montclair sophomore Alex Hill (30-4) allowed just three hits in the complete game shutout while striking out 10. LeAnne Miller (21-3)

Last month, 60 Minutes broadcast a story about job losses in Florida as a result of the dismantling of the human-spaceflight program. Watching the report, I thought of the countless times I had visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston as a member of Congress. When I toured the facility and met with constituents in the surrounding community, I was always struck by the pride everyone took in the space program — from the janitor sweeping the floor to the tour guide at the visitor center to the flight director at Mission Control.

The La Salle quartet of Andrew Stone, Mike DeCandido, Jack Magee, and Tom Coyle was almost never even in the race. With a qualifying time of 10 minutes, 24.35 seconds, the four were the 17th and final qualifier for the high school boys' distance medley relay Championship of America at the Penn Relays. Then they shocked the field. Hanging with some of the best distance runners in the nation, the Explorers blazed to a third-place finish in a chilly Franklin Field on Friday evening.

THE L.A. COMPLEX. 9 p.m. Tuesday, CW Philly 57. SUMMER ARRIVES a little early on the CW and with it, the Canadians. "Smash" meets "Melrose Place" in Tuesday's premiere of "The L.A. Complex," a guilty pleasure of a Canadian drama set in Los Angeles about (mostly) young people trying to make it in show business and, of course, with each other. Northern imports like ABC's "Rookie Blue" and CBS' "Flashpoint" have become one way U.S. networks keep the lights on between seasons when their cable rivals are at their most aggressive.

It's hard to believe that it's been 11 years since album-buying audiences first got a taste of Mexico's Rodrigo y Gabriela - or Rod y Gab as they're affectionately known - when the duo's Foc was released. That first jolt of quickly flittering, densely percussive, hard and fast acoustic guitar music from Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero still sounds frenziedly fresh. It's nearly as experimental as their jabbering cover version of Metallica's "Orion" (the pair did meet playing in a thrash band)

ONE HUNDRED years ago Sunday, the "unsinkable" oceanliner Titanic made headlines when it struck an iceberg and sank, carrying more than 1,500 passengers to their deaths. Philadelphia connections among the victims and survivors will be explored this weekend in an exhibit at Independence Seaport Museum. The main focus is the Thayer family, which donated many artifacts to the exhibit relating to family members who were passengers on the doomed ship. The Thayers were part of upper-class Philadelphian society.

?Question: I'm in the early stages of a long-distance relationship. We see each other as many weekends as possible. Whenever he visits me, I clear my calendar from Friday to Sunday. When I visit him, I can't help but feel like I'm intruding on his life. I think this has to do with the fact that we haven't been together very long. I feel awkward tagging along, but I feel even worse sitting alone in his apartment while he honors prior commitments (he has a part-time job and is also on a casual sports team)

In the second game of a doubleheader, Haverford's Brittany Stevenson tossed the first perfect game in program history in a 10-0 softball victory over Gwynedd-Mercy on Thursday, helping the Fords complete a sweep of the visiting Griffins. Stevenson (5-6) faced just 15 batters in the five-inning contest as she struck out six and walked none. She also got her first hit of the season, leading off the fourth with a double and then scoring on a single by Lauren Touey (Shipley School)