Tom Gola Arena

Disgusted at watching Mount St. Mary's carve up La Salle's man-to-man defense for the first 28 minutes of the game, Explorers coach John Giannini dialed up the zone, a defense his team doesn't play much, to try to cool off the opponent. Talk about Christmas magic. The Explorers held the Mountaineers to 2-of-10 shooting and forced three turnovers in the final eight minutes to pick up a 65-59 victory last night at Tom Gola Arena. The Explorers (6-5) trailed by nine points early in the second half and by 48-43 with 11 minutes, 24 seconds to play before Giannini decided to go zone after the half's second media time-out, with the Mountaineers shooting 52.5 percent from the floor at that point.

For the last five years, the La Salle Explorers have been the nomads of the Big Five. They've had two different conferences, three different home courts, about a dozen different practice sites. The lack of stability has hurt the team's chemistry and recruiting. See it here: five consecutive losing seasons, a .355 winning percentage in that span, fewer than 10 wins in two of the last three seasons. Now, firmly established in the Atlantic Ten Conference, the Explorers can unpack the gym bags and enjoy the daily routine, just like most college teams in the country.

LaSalle men's basketball coach John Giannini has received a contract extension through the 2010-11 season, the school announced yesterday. "Dr. John [Giannini] took over our men's basketball program at a critical time and has proven to be the right man for the job," LaSalle athletic director Thomas Brennan said. Last year, in just his second season as head coach, Giannini led the Explorers to an 18-10 record and a third-place finish in the Atlantic Ten - their highest mark since joining the conference in 1995-96.

Turnovers proved costly as the La Salle women's basketball team fell, 56-43, last night at Wichita State. The Explorers committed 27 turnovers in the loss. Morgan Robertson led La Salle (1-4) with 11 points, and Tara Lapetina scored nine. The Explorers next play at 1 p.m. Sunday when they host Lehigh at Tom Gola Arena.

Who: La Salle (7-4) vs. Cornell (9-2) When: 4 o'clock Where: Tom Gola Arena TV/Radio: None/WHAT (1340-AM) Who: Drexel (6-6) vs. Rhode Island (9-1) When: 7 o'clock Where: Daskalakis Athletic Center TV/Radio: Comcast Network/ www.drexeldragons.com Who: Saint Joseph's (4-6) at Siena (7-4) When: 7 o'clock Where: Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y. TV/Radio: None/WNTP (990-AM)

Who: Xavier (8-5) at La Salle (7-6) When: 7 o'clock Where: Tom Gola Arena TV/Radio: None/WHAT (1340-AM) Notes: This is the Atlantic 10 opener for both schools. Xavier has won the last three conference regular-season titles . . . Game features the top two scorers in the league with Xavier's Jordan Crawford (19.2 ppg.) and La Salle's Rodney Green (18.9) . . . La Salle is 17th nationally in three-point percentage (.410) and first in the A-10 . . . Abington Friends product Jason Love leads the Musketeers in rebounding (9.4 per game)

La Salle staved off a second-half rally to beat Rider, 55-54, in a women's basketball game yesterday at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J. Tara Lapetina, Danielle Mickiewicz and Ashley Gale (12 rebounds) scored nine points apiece for La Salle (3-7), which led 28-23 at the half. Caitlin Bopp (12 points, 15 rebounds) led Rider (2-7). The Explorers host Villanova at the Tom Gola Arena tomorrow at 1 p.m. In another game: At Temple, Laura Sweeney and Maria Getty fueled a 44-32 Villanova upset of the Owls.

Morgan Robertson was scoreless in La Salle's win at Villanova on Friday, but she had 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Explorers (2-0) to a 71-57 victory over Long Island yesterday at Tom Gola Arena. Margaret Elderton (16 points), Jamie Walsh (11) and Ashley Gale (11) each nailed three three-pointers for La Salle. In other area games: At Saint Joseph's, Brittany Ford scored 19 points, Ashley Logue and Mary Kate McDade 14 each as the Hawks (1-1) topped Lehigh, 71-63.

LAURA SWEENEY scored 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to lead Villanova (6-2, 1-0 Big 5) past La Salle, 67-51, in women's Big 5 action from the Tom Gola Arena yesterday. Brittany Wilson dropped a season-high 24 for La Salle (2-7, 0-1). * At UNC Wilmington, Kamile Nacickaite netted 17 points and Hollie Mershon hit 16 to lead Drexel (4-2, 1-0 CAA) to a 58-43 win over the Seahawks (2-4, 0-1) in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both teams.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.