Explorers

Less than 2 minutes into the third quarter of Friday's game against Archbishop Ryan, La Salle basketball coach Marty Jackson shed his navy-blue, double-breasted blazer and gently laid it on the bleacher seat behind him. Less than 4 minutes later, after Ryan methodically sliced the Explorers' lead to 3 points, Jackson called for a time out, then emphatically delivered an ultimatum to the Explorers. They could fizzle. Or they could sizzle. La Salle apparently chose the latter.

Freshman guard Adrian Walton scored 22 points and William "Smush" Parker added 20 as Fordham beat La Salle, 74-63, yesterday. It was the Rams' third straight victory. The Explorers have lost six of their last seven. Walton was 6 for 9 from the floor and 9 for 10 from the free-throw line. "He's a good player," La Salle coach Billy Hahn said of Walton. "He's aggressive. He takes control of the ball. He doesn't turn it over. " Rasual Butler had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Explorers (8-11 overall, 1-6 Atlantic Ten)

As soon as John Giannini convenes the first practice tonight, he'll notice immediate improvement in La Salle's long-struggling basketball program. He will actually have enough players to go five-on-five. "The first turned ankle, though, and we'll have a walk-on ready to fill in," the second-year coach said yesterday. Despite a trying travel day of flight delays, Giannini was buoyed by the interest some quality recruits had shown in La Salle. But the boost the Explorers would get from those players wouldn't come until next season.

That defensive intensity La Salle supposedly had rediscovered? It's been misplaced again. The Explorers spent a frustrating evening in search of anyone or anything that might slow down 21st-ranked Xavier in last night's 91-59 loss in the CoreStates Spectrum. For the Musketeers' offense, meanwhile, "X" marked the spot all over the floor. Xavier sank 18 of its first 20 shots to open the game, scoring inside and outside with almost ridiculous ease. It was 52-35 at halftime and La Salle coach Speedy Morris was plumb out of ideas.

Until the very end, La Salle had good reason to believe it was invincible at home against conference opponents. The Explorers had played, in coach Speedy Morris' words, "very sloppy" last night and still led St. Peter's by a basket with 30 seconds left. But with less than 10 seconds remaining, Peacocks senior guard Jasper Walker hit a three-point basket from the left baseline to torpedo the Explorers, 58-57, in front of just 1,751 fans. And that ended La Salle's 13-0 run at the Civic Center in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference competition.

The gist of the sermon was familiar, even if the volume was a bit higher. And if there was a damning word in it, try quit. La Salle coach Speedy Morris' comments to his team after its 87-79 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss to Fordham last night wouldn't make good reading in a family newspaper. Not that they included that many expletives. Accusations, yes. Expletives, no. Among other things, Morris accused his team of not believing in itself at critical times of the game, of not being able to live with adversity and of not being able to play tough defense.

It's not easy being in the spotlight. About 60 friends, alumni and members of the media joined the La Salle basketball team and crowded onto couches and chairs gathered around a 20-inch television set in a small room in the student union building. The attraction was the televising of the NCAA tournament draw, and for the first time since 1983, the Explorers had something to wait for. The problem was, what they came to watch they almost couldn't see. All the local television cameras were congregated in front of the television, leaving Craig Conlin, La Salle's junior center, to plead politely to please keep it down in front.

It was a game pitting contrasting offensive philosophies. La Salle prefers to grind it out, letting its big running backs carry the ball behind its big offensive linemen. Cardinal Dougherty, on the other hand, has smaller, swifter backs and receivers and it likes to go for the quick strike with its run-and-shoot. And in their Catholic League North matchup Friday night at Northeast High, the Explorers' grind-it-out approach paid off as La Salle ran the ball 54 times for 261 yards in a 28-7 win over Dougherty.

You can still count on both hands the number of points that La Salle has surrendered in four Catholic League Northern Division games this season. The bad news for the Explorers is that the majority of them came in Friday night's 7-0 loss to host Father Judge at Northeast High. The first touchdown La Salle had permitted in four games was enough to give the Crusaders (4-0-2, 3-0-1) the victory. La Salle dropped to 4-2, 3-1 as a result of Judge quarterback Joe Shenko's scoring on a 1-yard bootleg run in the fourth quarter.

Over the last few weeks, the La Salle football team has demonstrated an acute sense for the dramatic. First there was the 21-20 victory over Father Judge Oct. 7. A thriller of the highest order, that game was decided on a 2-point conversion run by quarterback Jack Stanczak. Then there was the 14-10 victory over Cardinal Dougherty a week later, courtesy of a 29-yard TD pass by Stanczak with 51 seconds left. What, La Salle fans had to be wondering, did their undefeated Explorers have in mind for the biggest game of the Catholic League regular season, namely Saturday's matchup with hitherto-unbeaten Archbishop Ryan?