By Sean Kennedy
Yesterday’s Action
James Madison 63, Drexel 61
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, when Drexel loses, it’s bound to be a heartbreaker. The Dragons’ last four losses have all been by 2 points or less, as Drexel fell in overtime to the Dukes. Ron Curry scored a game-high 18 points, including 7 in overtime, hitting a big three with under 10 seconds left after Chris Fouch had tied the game with two free throws.
With multiple season-ending injuries, Drexel has needed their starting backcourt of Fouch and Frantz Massenat to carry the load offensively even more than expected. While the duo is up to the task most nights, Wednesday evening was not one of those occasions. Although they were the top two leading scorers for the Dragons, the duo shot just 7-32 from the field, and those two and Tavon Allen combined to go just 1-12 behind the arc. Drexel simply doesn’t have enough depth left at this point to survive off nights from both of their best players. Hopefully, they’ll re-gain their stroke this weekend against the first-place Blue Hens.
Saint Joseph’s 57, Rhode Island 54
For the majority of Wednesday night, it looked like the Hawks’ NCAA tournament aspirations were slipping away. A loss to the Rams would represent the kind of key loss that dooms a team on the bubble in the eyes of the tournament committee. Down 8 at halftime and trailing by 10 midway through the second half, St. Joe’s finally came alive with a 9-0 run to get back in the game, eventually pulling away from Rhode Island to escape with a win.
On a night the Hawks couldn’t get things going on the outside (shooting just 4-16 from three), Ronald Roberts paced the offense on the interior, collecting 18 points and 9 boards. DeAndre Bembry sparked the Hawks during that 9-0 run with 5 points, finishing 5-6 from the field for 12 points. Halil Kancevic added 12 points and 9 rebounds, including a lay-up in the final minute after Rhode Island had trimmed the Hawks’ lead to 1 point. Now tied with VCU for second in the conference, St. Joe’s will head back home for two games beginning against Fordham this Saturday.
Dayton 65, La Salle 53
It’s safe to say the magical run of 2013 is in the distant past for the Explorers as they gave a lackluster effort against Dayton, losing their fourth-straight game and 7th in their last 8 games. With his team plummeting down the A-10 standings, Coach John Giannini moved Tyrone Garland back into the starting lineup to try and spark some life into his team. However, the move didn’t have much of an effect, as Garland went just 2-8 for 7 points. A 20-4 Dayton run at the end of the first half ultimately proved the key sequence of the game, as 17 turnovers and a 35% mark from the field proved to be La Salle’s downfall.
Jerrell Wright was the only Explorer who could get anything going offensively, going 5-6 from the field for a team-high 15 points, although he did have 5 turnovers, including 2 offensive fouls. Tyreek Duren followed up a solid effort against St. Joe’s with a sub-par game, shooting 4-12 for 13 points. For Dayton, Jordan Sibert hit 5 threes to record a game-high 17 points and forward Devin Oliver recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. The Explorers will next try to right the ship in Richmond, and need to throw a couple wins together in the worst way to have any chance of building some momentum toward the A-10 tournament at the Barclay’s Center in just a few short weeks.
Today’s Action
9:00 PM: Temple (7-17, 2-10 AAC) vs. Connecticut (20-5, 8-4 AAC) – ESPN2
The Owls are fresh off their best win of the season, having taken down a hot SMU squad to topple their first ranked opponent of the year. Temple will look to turn the trick again facing a Connecticut team which has won 6 of their past 7 games, with that lone loss a road defeat to a top-10 Cincinnati group when they were without second-leading scorer and rebounder DeAndre Daniels. When these teams locked horns in Connecticut back in January, the Owls were no match for the Uskies, losing by 24 points. UConn was led by star point guard Shabazz Napier with 27 points, and 31 and 12 rebounds from Daniels. Daniels’ work on the boards helped the Huskies out-rebound Temple by 20, with Anthony Lee somehow going 29 minutes without grabbing a rebound.
Lee, who missed the SMU game, practiced with the team yesterday but has not yet been officially ruled active for the game against the Huskies. If Temple is again without their leading rebounder, they’ll need a collective effort from guys like DeVontae Watson and Mark Williams, who both stepped up their games against SMU. Still, the main area for concern for Temple will be stopping one of the best point guards in the nation in Napier. The 6’1″ senior leads the team in points (18.0), rebounds (5.8), and assists (5.5), and draws comparisons to Kemba Walker among the UConn faithful. We’ll see if Temple can overcome a Huskies team playing good ball of late to pull their second-straight upset, or if they’ll be man-handled on the glass again in a big defeat.
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