NEWS
March 14, 2012 | BY BERNARD FERNANDEZ, Daily News Staff Writer
MINNESOTA outscored La Salle, 11-4, over the last 6 minutes, 40 seconds to spoil the Explorers' return to the NIT with a 70-61 victory Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena. The game marked La Salle's first appearance in the NIT since the 1990-91 season, and the first major postseason berth since the 1991-92 squad made the NCAA Tournament. After Earl Pettis hit a corner jump shot to get La Salle (21-13) within 59-57, the home team went stone cold, managing only another Pettis field goal and a pair of free throws from Ramon Galloway.
SPORTS
March 14, 2012 | By Bernard Fernandez, Daily News Staff Writer
John Giannini received his Ph.D. in kinesiology from the University of Illinois in 1992, but the eighth-year La Salle coach believes he has a special mission to serve as an instructor of local hoops history. From the time they are being recruited, prospective Explorers are made fully aware by Giannini of the school's many basketball successes. "In the recruiting process, we talk about the La Salle tradition," said Giannini, whose Explorers (21-12) host Minnesota (19-14) at 7 Wednesday night in a first-round NIT game at Tom Gola Arena.
SPORTS
March 12, 2012 | STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Philadelphia will be an NIT kind of town on Wednesday, with St. Joseph's, Drexel, and La Salle all hosting National Invitation Tournament games that night in the consolation tournament. Drexel (27-6) hosts Central Florida (22-10) at the Daskalakis Center at 7:15 p.m., and St. Joe's (20-13) hosts Northern Iowa (19-13) at Hagan Arena at the same time, with both games being streamed on ESPN3. La Salle (21-12) hosts Minnesota (19-14) at Tom Gola Arena at 7 p.m., to be shown on ESPN2. In the College Basketball Invitational, Penn (19-12)
NEWS
March 11, 2012 | STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Philadelphia will be an NIT kind of town Wednesday night, with St. Joseph's, Drexel, and La Salle all hosting games that night in the consolation tournament. Drexel (27-6) hosts Central Florida (22-10) at the Daskalakis Center at 7:15 p.m., and St. Joe's (20-13) hosts Northern Iowa (19-13) at Hagan Arena at the same time with both games being televised on ESPN3. La Salle (21-12) hosts Minnesota (19-14) at Tom Gola Arena at 7 p.m., to be shown on ESPN2. The most interesting thing about the bracketing: If the Hawks and Dragons both win, they're headed for a second-round matchup.
SPORTS
March 9, 2012 | BY BERNARD FERNANDEZ, Daily News Staff Writer
IT IS a mantra that is recited like gospel by every Billy Packer clone during college basketball's postseason: Tournament time is when guard play especially is at a premium. For a lot of teams, including Philadelphia's three Atlantic 10 Conference members, those words hold true not only in this particular postseason, but throughout all the games that went before. Temple, Saint Joseph's and La Salle not only had three guards on the floor on a consistent basis, but sometimes four.
NEWS
March 6, 2012 | BY BERNARD FERNANDEZ, Daily News Staff Writer
HOW HOT was Richmond's Darien Brothers in the first half of Tuesday night's first-round Atlantic 10 Tournament game against La Salle? So hot that when his long jumper clanked off the rim late in the first half, he smiled wanly as if to say, "How did I miss that one?" Spectators in Tom Gola Arena applauded the misfire, perhaps in gratitude. Brothers was a virtual one-man gang for the Spiders in the opening 20 minutes, scoring 22 points as La Salle took a seven-point lead into intermission.
SPORTS
March 6, 2012 | By Joe Juliano, Inquirer Staff Writer
La Salle has won 20 games for the first time in 20 years and hopes to use the momentum generated by that achivement to win a few more. The seventh-seeded Explorers open play Tuesday night in the Atlantic Ten Conference tournament at Tom Gola Arena against No. 10 Richmond. La Salle (20-11, 9-7 A-10) rebounded from a shocking Feb. 25 loss at Fordham to win two games last week and reach 20 victories for the first time since 1991-92, which is also the last time the Explorers competed in the NCAA tournament.
SPORTS
March 4, 2012 | By Dan Moberger, Inquirer Staff Writer
Jerrell Wright's rim-shaking dunk early tied the game and La Salle never gave up the lead in its 71-61 win over St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon. Fans in the packed Tom Gola Arena energized the Explorers on Senior Day, when coach John Giannini's team earned its 20th win and the No. 7 seed in the Atlantic Ten tournament. La Salle will host tenth-seeded Richmond on Tuesday in the first round. Giannini said Richmond plays a different style of basketball from a lot of other teams in the league, and that his players need to continue the tight defense they've been playing as of late.
NEWS
March 3, 2012 | By Dan Moberger, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Jerrell Wright's rim-shaking dunk early tied the game and La Salle never gave up the lead in its 71-61 win over St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon. Fans in the packed Tom Gola Arena energized the Explorers on Senior Day, when coach John Giannini's team earned its 20th win and the No. 7 seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament. La Salle will host No. 10-seeded Richmond on Tuesday in the first round. Giannini said Richmond plays a different style of basketball from a lot of other teams in the league, and that his players need to continue the tight defense they've been playing as of late.
SPORTS
March 3, 2012
The final day of the regular season in the Atlantic Ten and Big East Conferences finds three of the City Six teams still wondering about seedings and opponents when their postseason tournaments get underway on Tuesday. Or, in the case of St. Joseph's and La Salle, whether either will get a much-coveted first-round bye. Here's a look at "Tiebreaker Saturday:" St. Joseph's. The Hawks have completed the regular season with a 9-7 mark. As many as four other teams can finish with the same record by the end of play Saturday, setting all kinds of tiebreaking criteria into motion.