DENVER, Colo. - Heeding the words of their coach, MSU finished the job, winning 72-61. Press row must be on fire as everyone is trying to get out and watch the end of Xavier and Georgia.

Temple didn't quit, but just never found an answer for Michigan state's defense. Late in the game, after an over-and-back call on MSU, Inge comes over by us to pass the ball in, claps and says, "we still got life!" They didn't, but you have to like that optimism.

With 44 second to go, Michigan St fan finally get on their feet to salute the Spartans. Or maybe they were just stretching. It was hard to tell.

Izzo is doing the requisite CBS interview, while Drew Naymick is taking care of the folks at Westwood one.

Meanwhile, Pitt and Oral Roberts are warming up for game two. Back with that in a bit.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Temple scored the final 11 points of the game and held off a game La Salle squad, 84-75, to become the third team to advance to the Atlantic 10 semifinals.

It was a few role players who helped Fran Dunphy's squad over the top. After La Salle's Darnell Harris hit a three-pointer to give the Explorers the 75-73 edge, Sergio Olmos -- who had 10 second-half points -- hit a lay-up. Chris Clark hit a pair of free throws to give the Owls the edge by two, then hit a three pointer that bounced high off the rim before going through to put Temple up 5 with under a minute to play.

La Salle's Yves Mekongo Mbala and Harris missed threes the next two tips down the court, and that was pretty much it for the Explorers.

Dionte Christmas scored 29 points for the Owls, who also got 14 each from Mark Tyndale and Sergio Olmos. Chris Clark scored 12, including 6 in the final 1:35. The Explorers outrebounded Temple by 1.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Back and forth, back and forth! This feels more like a heavyweight fight than a Big 5 battle. After a Darnell Harris three -- he now has 18 -- gave La Salle the lead, Sergio Olmos hit a lay-in to tie the score. Two free throws by Chris Clark has put Temple back ahead, 77-75, with 1:30 left.

Dionte Christmas has 27, but it's been role players Clark (8 points), Ryan Brooks (8) and Olmos (14) who have helped Temple hold off La Salle's best shot. Yves Mekongo Mbala has 16 points and Rodney Green has 20 for the Explorers.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Was there any doubt? La Salle went on a 15-2 run to erase an 11-point deficit and take the lead.

Temple came right back with a pair of three-pointers; the Owls now lead 67-65 with 6:46 to play. Dionte Christmas has 25 for Temple, while Kimmani Barrett now has 11 for La Salle.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Sergio Olmos has been a one man conquistador the second half, with four easy layups in the first five minutes, but he's now on the bench after picking up his fourth foul. That's unfortunate, because every time Olmos scores the Temple student section -- which now doubles La Salle's in size -- sings "Olé, olé, olé" in unison.

Temple continues to hold a comfortable edge, increasing it to 11 on a Lavoy Allen jam with just over 14 minutes left in the game. Back to back threes have put La Salle right back into it, though; the Owls are now up 59-54 with just under 12 left.

Darnell Harris is scoreless in the second half, but backcourt-mate Rodney Green has a pair of buckets in the second half and has 14. Yves Mekongo Mbala now has 11.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dionte Christmas had a real horrorshow first half, dropping 19 points as Temple leads by eight, 43-35. He's 7-of-10 shots and made all his two-point attempts. Temple's Mark Tyndale is 3-for-4 from the floor for 11; he also has six rebounds.

La Salle has two players with 10 points, Darnell Harris (who had 2 for most of the half) and Rodney Green. The Explorers have 7 offensive rebounds. Temple is shooting 55.6 percent from the floor, and both teams have three triples.

The halftime show tonight: Another trampoline act! This one is the "dunk off the trampoline" variety as opposed to last night's tumbling act. It's called the Extreme Team and had one of its members jump over the entire TU cheerleader squad. They also get really, really excited whenever one of them dunks it.

My favorite Extreme Team member is the fat one.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Darnell Harris now has 10 for La Salle as Temple leads 38-31 with just under four minutes left in the first.

Harris only had two before getting a bucket on a strange goaltending call on Temple's Sergio Olmos. Rodney Green has 10 for the Explorers, while Mark Tyndale has 11 and Dionte Christmas 17 for Temple.

The La Salle fans chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!" at Olmos, a Valencia native, as he shot free throws. One enterprising Temple fan is wearing an anti-Penn State t-shirt.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- It took a while, but La Salle finally scored on a Yves Mekongo Mbala follow lay-in. Temple was up by as many as 11, 15-4, and now leads 19-9 with just under 11:30 left in the first half.

Dionte Christmas has 9 and Mark Tyndale 4 for the Owls. Forward Rodney Green has 5 for the Explorers.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dionte Christmas just scored five straight points as Temple is fast out of the gate indeed, jumping to a quick 9-0 advantage on La Salle just four minutes in.

New fact you're about to learn: Temple's mascot, Hooter the Owl, wears a size 56 jersey. There are a decent amount of fans at Boardwalk Hall for Temple and decent-sized, very spirited student sections from both schools.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The third quarterfinal tips off at 6:30 here right by the ocean's edge as Temple and La Salle meet for the second time this season. The Owls are 18-12, finishing off the season with a four-game winning streak -- including a 85-66 drubbing of the Explorers in the season finale.

The Explorers are looking to get to .500. Last night, they edged Duquesne by 3. The game is a contrast of styles: La Salle is much smaller and averages just under 71 possessions a game; Temple averages only 65.6.

The Owls play it slow but shoot the lights out; their effective field goal percentage is 54.5, 19th in the nation. Dr. John Giannini's La Salle squad is led by Darnell Harris, a 6-1 senior who shoots the lights out. Temple counters with Dionte Christmas, who tied for the league's scoring lead at 20.3 ppg. Temple's Fran Dunphy runs a very tight rotation, so the Owls may be looking to get out early.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- In the end, it came down to a couple of free throws and a throwaway.

La Salle, hovering around 50 percent from the line all game, hit its final three free throws after a tie with a minute left to win 82-79. Aaron Jackson got a decent look at the buzzer but was long. The Dukes had the ball down a point with 15 seconds left but threw it away.

Although his final shot was just off, Aaron Jackson did everything else he could to try to get Duquesne into the next round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. He scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half, including a three that broke a 76-all tie with 1:47 left.

Duquesne missed a bucket that might have put it away after a charge by La Salle's Rodney Green. The Explorers' Darnell Harris then hit a three from about 27 feet away to knot it at 79 in the final minute.

Postgame stats and other goodies after the jump.

Continue reading "La Salle Rallies, Edges Duquesne" »

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Duquesne took control out of the second media timeout and went up by as many as seven, but La Salle has clawed back into it to trail by two, 72-70.

Duquesne began pressing out of the second media timeout and immediately went on a 13-5 spurt -- punctuated by a Reggie Jackson steal and layup -- to go up 67-70. La Salle's Darnell Harris answered, hitting a long two and a three on consecutive possessions.

Jackson, a 5-10 senior guard, has exploded in the second half, scoring 15 points in the first 12 minutes as Duquesne gained control of the game. Aaron Jackson (a 6-2 guard, and no relation) is 5-for-5 for 10 points.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Whew! The players all caught their breath during halftime and we're at a breakneck pace again. La Salle leads, 55-54, at the second media timeout.

Duquesne caught a nice break when La Salle's Yves Mekongo Mbala and Paul Johnson each picked up his third foul in the first minute of the second half. The Dukes took advantage, picking up the tempo and outscoring La Salle 12-4 to open the half. The five-point edge was the biggest for either team so far.

La Salle came right back, taking the lead on an and-one layup by Kimmani Barrett. Sherman Diaz converted the missed free throw to give the Explorers a three-point edge, but Duquesne's Bill Clark's tied it on a three-point play. A minute later, Mbala and Reggie Jackson traded threes.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Explorers went on a 7-0 run late in the first half to pull ahead of Duquesne. They lead, 39-36, at the break. La Salle's Yves Mekongo Mbala leads all scorers with 9 points, three Duquesne players have 8 points.

The Dukes are in this game despite a total of 3 points from leading scorers Shawn James and Kojo Mensah. Neither had a field goal until James hit a three with just under eight minutes to go in the first half; Mensah is 0-for-5 from the field. James, who had more blocks than seven Atlantic 10 teams this year, does have three blocks.

The teams are pretty evenly matched stat-wise and ended up with solid shooting performances (Duquesne went 15-of-35 and La Salle went 15-of-34). The Explorers did miss half of their 6 free throws; Duquesne only attempted 3 free throws and went 5-for-12 from three-point range. Gary Tucker launched a three from half court that was just a little long at the halftime buzzer.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The Dukes and Explorers have calmed down a bit here at Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall, a simply lovely building that's actually at the corner of a street named after Don King. The Explorers have also missed approximately 3400 layups as the Dukes have grabbed a 31-29 lead with just over six minutes left in the first half.

While the Explorers have trouble on the offensive end, Duquesne has a bucketful of offensive rebounds, which they, too, have turned into a bunch of missed layups. On the plus side for the Dukes, when they've ventured outside they've been deadly; nearly everybody from Duquesne has a three, even 6-10 Kieron Achara. (He's one of three Scottish players in Division I!)

Continue reading "A10: Slowing Down, But Just A Little" »

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- At the first media timeout, it's La Salle by a point, 15-14. The Explorers are roughly on pace for a 75-point half.

Duquesne averaged 75.4 possessions per 40 minutes this season (6th nationally) and so far this game is moving so fast you'd think Grinnell was on the court. La Salle was no turtle either, averaging 70.4 possessions (63rd nationally).

For La Salle, Paul Johnson has a pair of easy dunks already, as the Dukes haven't been able to control anything inside. Aaron Jackson has 6 and Gary Tucker has 5. Former Yankees and A's slugger Reggie Jackson (bet he hasn't heard that one before!) has a three already for the Dukes, who are doing most of their damage outside.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The nightcap of the first day of the Atlantic 10 Tournament kicks off at 6:30 tonight with La Salle (14-16, 8-8 Atlantic 10) taking on Dusquene (17-12, 7-9). Both teams are playing out the string on the season, with Duquesne finishing up its best season since 1994 and La Salle coming off a three-game losing streak to end the regular season.

Duquesne has a balanced attack with seven players between 8 and 13 points. First-year transfers Shawn James (12.8 points, 6.9 rebounds) and Kojo Mensah (12.5, 3.4) are the Dukes' leading scorers; they both come off the bench.

La Salle guard Darnell Harris made this year's Atlantic 10 second team after averaging 16.4 points on 45 percent shooting. The Explorers went on a five-game winning streak in February before dropping all three games they played in March.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)