Second-half run too much for LaSalle

For the second time in four days, La Salle could not handle the pressure. Well, actually, it was the Explorers offense that got flustered. Saturday night at the Palestra, St. Joe's used a three-quarter court trap to force the Explorers out of their offensive rhythm and ignited a 10-0 run late in the ballgame. And just like Saturday, La Salle lost to a Big 5 opponent in what was officially an Atlantic 10 contest. Last night, the opponent was Temple and the venue was the Civic Center, but the cause of defeat was the same for Speedy Morris's Explorers, who dropped to 4-12, 1-4 in the Atlantic 10 with the 68-48 loss in front of a sparse crowd of 2,199. After an evenly played opening stanza, which saw the teams trade baskets from the perimeter, the Owls (9-7, 6-0) broke open the 29-29 halftime tie with a 28-12 run to open the second half. The key was an adjustment Temple coach John Chaney and his staff made during intermission to put more pressure on the basketball. Chaney reconfigured his patented matchup zone defense into a triangle and two, using the two guards at the top to trap La Salle's guards. "We wanted to make them combine two skills," Chaney said. "In the first half, we were letting them just stand around and shoot. In the second, we were trying to force them to dribble and shoot or pass and shoot." The immediate result was three turnovers in two minutes and a six-point Owls' lead. "John did a great job pressuring us," Morris said. "We didn't expect them to do that, and we did not discuss it at all at the half, so that's my fault. It definitely threw us out of sync." After some adjustments by Explorers guard Mike Gizzi and floor general Shawn Smith, La Salle started to generate open looks for its struggling offense. But nobody could knock down open jump shots from the corner. "There's nothing wrong with open shots from the corner," Morris said. "I'll take that all night, but nobody except Romaine [Haywood] was shooting the ball with any rhythm. We just needed someone to knock those shots down. "That's [Brian] Flickinger's spot. He can make that shot 10 times in a row in practice. I realize games are different, but we need him to make some shots. Tonight, we just didn't make them." Certainly not enough of them. The Explorers shot just 10-41 from behind the stripe on the evening -- a paltry 24.4 percent. Once you remove Haywood's admirable 5-of-9 performance, the rest of the Explorers were 5-for-32. That checks out at just 15.6 percent. That is no way to beat the Owls and their stingy interior zone defense. Especially not without the services of 6-foot-10 sophomore center Olaf Landgren, who sat out the contest with the flu. Most of Haywood's game-high 21 points came from the perimeter, and fellow frontline mates Jasper van Teeseling and Everett Catlin chipped in just eight points combined. Even more staggering was the fact that La Salle never got to the free-throw line all game. The Owls' attack came from long range as well, but they were considerably more successful than their counterparts. La Salle did an excellent job of collapsing on Temple's top scoring threat, center Marc Jackson, who was coming off a 28-point performance in Temple's 67-59 loss to Tulane Saturday. Jackson netted only 10 points and corralled eight rebounds last night, but Temple shot 37 percent (10-27) from beyond the arc. "Speedy did a hell of a job tonight," Chaney said. "He had his guys well prepared and they had Jackson thoroughly confused." The other difference was that Temple defense created easy transition baskets throughout the second half, when Temple outscored La Salle, 39-19. The Explorers just do not have the guns to compete with teams of Temple's calibre this year. After losing their super guard tandem of Paul Burke and Kareem Townes, La Salle does not have any go-to guys on the offensive end. Next year could be an entirely different story, however -- if Morris and Chaney have their way. The nation's most highly touted high school senior, Kobe Bryant, is the son of La Salle assistant Joe Bryant. The younger Bryant, who is still torn in his decision between La Salle, a few other top college programs and entering the June NBA draft, was looking on last night. Nobody would love to see Bryant on the La Salle bench next year more than Chaney, who is always pulling for local talent to stay at home. "I going to get a baseball bat for that Joe Bryant," Chaney said. "That kid should have committed to La Salle a long time ago. It's very unfortunate and sad. It angers and frustrates me. Kids in this area should go to these schools." Morris will have an opportunity to take out all his frustrations on the Quakers when the two schools lock up for a Big 5 doubleheader Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at the CoreStates Spectrum. Maybe by then, Morris will have two Bryants on his sideline. In the meantime, the pressure will continue to mount.

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