By Sean Kennedy
Yesterday’s Action
La Salle 73, Quinnipiac 67
Playing a game before the majority of their college classmates were even out of bed Tuesday morning, the Explorers held on against Quinnipiac to record their first win of the season. After leading for the majority of the game, La Salle briefly fell behind midway due to some strong play from Quinnipiac guard Kasim Chandler, who finished with 19 points and 4 assists. La Salle quickly re-gained a more comfortable advantage, which they held until the Bobcats closed within two points with 30 seconds remaining. However, Sam Mills and Tyrone Garland sank all four of their free throws to close the deal for the Explorers.
Coach Giannini opted to bring Tyrone Garland off the bench in this contest, after the senior led the team in scoring in the first game. The move was seemingly to bring more size into the starting unit and help correct some of the team’s rebounding woes. The move worked as the Explorers finished dead-even with the Bobcats in the rebounding column, with Garland’s replacement, D.J. Peterson, chipping in 6 boards. To his credit, Garland contributed 12 points off the bench including some big points in the final minute. Tyreek Duren led the team with 17 points, but on just 5-17 shooting, while Jerrell Wright recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, although he too greatly sturggled from the field, going 4-17.
With two games in the books, La Salle supporters have to be somewhat concerned that they’ve struggled with both Manhattan and Quinnipiac, two MAAC teams not exactly considered powerhouses. Still, it’s early in the season and there’s plenty of time for the Explorers to hit their stride and some of these poor shooting efforts will turn around. They’ll face yet another MAAC opponent in Siena on Saturday.
Pennsylvania 79, Monmouth 73
Looking for their first win of the season, the Quakers came out of the gate flat against Monmouth, falling behind 12-2 to the Hawks. However, Penn immediately responded with a 16-0 run to take the lead, and another 10-0 run later in the half gave the Quakers an 8-point halftime advantage going into the break. Penn kept Monmouth at bay throughout the majority of the second half, although Monmouth did trim the lead the deficit to three points in the final minute before Penn iced the game on the foul line.
It was a huge game for senior Miles Jackson-Cartwright, who was on fire from the outside, hitting 5-8 three-pointers en route to a game-high 25 points. Darien Nelson-Henry, moved into the starting lineup by coach Jerome Allen, had his second-straight double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The other sophomore stud, Tony Hicks, followed a team-high 28 points in the opener with a bit of an off shooting night. Hicks shot just 3-10 from the field for 13 points, but contributed in other areas with 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals.
Overall, it was a very nice win on the road for the Quakers. A number of players stepped up in a balanced effort for Penn, which bodes well given the possible inconsistencies of some of the younger players on the roster. With a close loss to rival Temple and this win under their belts, Pennsylvania is off to a promising start this season. They’ll take on Penn State at the Palestra Saturday afternoon.
Drexel 78, Illinois State 70
The Dragons fought valiantly in a tough spot at UCLA to start the season. But moral victories don’t mean a thing when it comes to building a tournament resume and Drexel came in eager to record a tally in the win column. The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with Drexel using a 7-0 run (including 5 points from Chris Fouch) at the end of the first half to take a 4-point lead into the break. The Dragons never trailed from then on, leading by as many as 12 points in the second half to cruise to their first win of the year.
Chris Fouch bounced back in a big way from a rough outing against UCLA, tallying a game-high 26 points on 9-14 shooting, including 3-6 from downtown. Kazembe Abif had a nice two-effort with a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double, with both of those marks representing career-highs for the 6’7″ junior. Reigning CAA conference player of the week Frantz Massenat struggled with his shot against the Redirds, going 4-12 for 12 points, but did record a game-high 7 assists.
It’s been a nice start to the season for the Dragons, who now sit at 1-1 with their first true home game still a few weeks away. Drexel have held their own on the glass and have a handful of players capable of heating up from the outside on a given night. They’ll next face Elon Monday in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament.
Today’s Action
7:00 PM: Saint Joseph’s (1-0, 0-0 A-10) vs. Marist (0-2, 0-0 MAAC)
The Hawks got their 2013-14 season off to a great start with a solid road win over Vermont on Saturday. As expected, Ronald Roberts Jr. and Langston Galloway led the way in that contest, dropping 21 points apiece. St. Joe’s will look to keep things rolling at home Wednesday night against a Marist club which has started its season 0-2.
The Red Foxes (Note: I love the fact that they differentiate the type of fox they are, wouldn’t want to be confused with the Gray or Arctic Fox) have been abymsal to start the season, losing by 16 and 27 points to Stony Brook and Elon, respectively. Saint Joseph’s represents a step up from those opponents and should be able to stifle the Marist offensive attack which already ranks among the worst in college basketball, having shot just 30.7%. Junior swingman Chavaughn Lewis is the only player putting up any sort of production, averaging 13.5 ppg after leading the team with over 16 points per game last season. The Hawks defense should be able to swarm Lewis and force another member of the skulk (that’s a group of foxes, folks) to beat them. Furthering the difficulties for Marist, the team’s best rebounder, senior center Adam Kemp, is currently injured and already missed the game against Elon. There is no timetable for his return.
On paper, this should be an easy victory for St. Joe’s. The team is at home, played well in their season opener, and facing an undermanned team with not much of a pedigree to begin with. Unlike fellow City 6 member La Salle, the Hawks will have no trouble with their MAAC opponent and cruise to an easy victory.
7:00 PM: Villanova (1-0, 0-0 Big East) vs. Mount St. Mary’s (0-1, 0-0 NEC)
The Wildcats found themselves in a difficult, back and forth battle against Lafayette in their opener, before eventually pulling away late for a 16-point victory. Villanova struggled greatly with its outside shooting, hitting just 5 of 30 attempts from behind the arc. In particular, Ryan Arcidiacono had trouble scoring the ball, finally getting his first points of the game in the closing minutes on a breakaway lay-up. James Bell and JayVaughn Pinkston bailed the Cats out by consistently getting to the free throw line for easy points. The team will look to have a better performance Wednesday night in the Pavilion against the Mountaineers.
In a battle of Mountaineers, Mount St. Mary’s lost to West Virginia 77-62 in their season opener. Reportedly, they’re still able to retain the Mountaineer moniker despite the loss. 6’2″ senior guard Julian Norfleet led the Mountaineers with 19 points and 7 assists, as last season’s leading scorer, Rashad Whack, shot just 2-12 for 6 points on the night.
The Wildcats almost have to shoot better than they did in the opener, and it bodes well that they rebounded and defended well enough to pull out what became an easy victory. Mount St. Mary’s provides about the same level of competition as Lafayette and with a better shooting performance here from Villanova, I look for them to roll.
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