Yesterday’s Action
La Salle‘s A-10 tournament run ended Friday afternoon with a 69-58 loss to Butler. Any comeback attempt down the stretch proved futile as the boys from Philly failed to score a single point during the final five minutes of the game. Butler dominated the glass, outrebounding La Salle 37-22, while using a balanced attack to pull away from the Explorers in the second half. The Bulldogs had five players score double digits as the team shot nearly 50.0% from the field as a whole (49.1%). The Explorers received solid performance from Tyreek Duren (19 points) and Jerrell Wright (14 points and 11 rebounds). However, leading scorer Ramon Galloway struggled mightily from the field, recording just 4 points on 1-10 shooting (including 0-7 from three). If Galloway had played to his usual standard, we would likely be discussing La Salle’s match-up for today.
Explorers fans will sit with bated breath Selection Sunday as the team is currently projected as one of the last four teams into the tournament field. Besides their strong resume, reaturing a top-40 RPI and top-60 BPI, La Salle should be helped by their back-to-back wins against ranked teams in January. The Explorers received a lot of media exposure for defeating both Butler and VCU in the same week. Like it or not, the selection committee looks at the numbers but are ultimately human; their remembering a storyline like that might be the edge La Salle needs to break into the tournament field for the first time since 1992.
In other A-10 action, St. Joseph’s could not keep up with fast-paced VCU in an 82-79 loss. The Hawks were down 15 with just over 2 minutes left to play before a furious rally simply ran out of time. The full court press of the Rams defense once again disrupted St. Joseph’s as they committed 17 turnovers, 5 above their team average on the season. Many of the steals led to easy VCU baskets on the other end, who finished the game shooting 50.0% from the field.
The Hawks’ two leading scorers, Carl Jones and Langston Galloway, stepped up with 29 and 25 points, respectively. St. Joseph’s as a team shot an outstanding 51.1% from the floor and 9-17 from behind the arc. In the end, the turnovers were too much to overcome as any time the Hawks tried to mount a serious comeback, sloppy ball control would allow the Rams to build the lead right back up. Unfortunately for St. Joe’s, this loss ends any hope at an NCAA tournament run. A disappointing season will likely end with an NIT bid for the Hawks.
With their NCAA tournament bid locked up following a 7-game winning streak to conclude the regular season, Temple may have found themselves up against an opponent who simply wanted it more than they did in a 79-74 loss. Massachusetts went tenaciously after every loose ball, out-rebounding the Owls 36-22. Following a Khalif Wyatt three to pull Temple within two with just under a minute left, the Minutemen’s Terrell Vinson drained a three of his own as the shot clock wound down to seal the game for UMass.
Massachusetts is now officially on the bubble after this win over Temple and if they can upset VCU in the conference semifinals, they will have likely secured themselves a spot in the tournament field. Chaz Williams dominated play for the Minutemen, dropping a game-high 28 points and 5 assists. After being announced as the conference player of the year, Khalif Wyatt had one of his worst shooting performances of the season, going 4-19 from the field including 2-11 from behind the arc. Wyatt did get to the line 10 times, making 9, as he led the team with 19 points. Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson performed admirably for the Owls, finishing with 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. Despite the loss, Temple has locked up a place in the NCAA tournament and Owls fans will eagerly await their placement on Selection Sunday.
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