Carr and Gizzi exit Palestra at half

La Salle's Donnie Carr and Mike Gizzi scored a combined eight points in the second half last night. Last night's Big 5 bout between Penn and La Salle was full of surprises. The first surprise was the start of Quaker co-captain Jeff Goldstein. Penn forward Mike Melcher's first basket of the year followed. The Quakers' 82-64 blowout win was the last. But in between was the biggest -- the virtual disappearance of Explorers' guards Donnie Carr and Mike Gizzi. In the second half, Carr and Gizzi, averaging a combined 31.3 points per game, dropped only eight. In the final 13 minutes of the game, neither player scored. The Quakers' came out fast in the first half. Behind Goldstein's six points on 3-for-3 shooting, Penn jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first 4:55 over La Salle. While the play of Carr and Gizzi was non-existent in the second half. But the two made their short-lived statement in the first half. Early play was marred by 11 combined turnovers. Explorers players finally came out of their state of somnambulism behind the only productive play the senior Gizzi (17 pts.) and sophomore Carr (15 pts.) would give them in the game. "Other teams are going to key on Donnie and I, especially on Donnie," Gizzi said. "They know that we are the two that are going to convert the points." Led by their two top scorers, the Explorers began a run to get back in the game. In the next 3:24, Carr scored eight points, bringing the team within two (15-13). Led by a core of sophomore guards -- Michael Jordan (12 pts., 9 rebs.) and Matt Langel (19, 7, 5 assists) -- the Quakers amassed another 12-point lead in the next 4:37. Again, the two Philly natives, Gizzi and Carr, answered the call. Carr started with a little jumper in the lane. Gizzi followed suit with a trey. The 6'3" Carr added another four, capped off by a breakaway one-handed slam. "Well, we talked about with all their perimeter players, about switching out on their screens and doing a lot of helping each other out," Langel said. "So it wouldn't be just Mike on Donnie or me on Gizzi." Whatever the combination of players was, they had difficulty keeping Carr and Gizzi in check. Suddenly, the Explorers were back in the game by half, trailing only by three, 37-34. The halftime line was sweet for the dynamic duo -- Gizzi had 10 points (2-of-4 from beyond the arc) and Carr had 13 points (6-of-13 shooting). But the two left their game in the locker room for the second half. "It was kind of obvious in the second half that it didn't seem like we had a game plan," Gizzi said. "We had a set offense and we didn't run it." Both came out strong early. Gizzi started the La Salle scoring for the half with a jumper from the left corner. Just seven seconds later, Carr made a driving lay-up, making it a two-point game (40-38). But that was the last of Carr. The field goal was his only made shot of the second half, going 1-for-7 in the stanza. Gizzi managed to keep the Explorers close, racking up five more points in five minutes. After the 13:47 mark, Gizzi's game left the arena. "We were trying to pressure their outside perimeter game and make them try and get to the basket," Langel said. "In the second half we concentrated on keeping them under control." At the 12:06 mark, Gizzi picked up only his second foul. But in the next nine minutes he tallied three more fouls, one early shower, a seat next to La Salle coach Speedy Morris and not a single point. "We had a couple shots in the second half that we should have made that we didn't make," Gizzi said. "The two of us aren't going to win games. We are going to help win." Gizzi's notion that the two won't win games for them may be true. But the fact that for roughly 13 minutes two of the best scorers in the city were shut out points to the final 18 point difference in the game. Mike Melcher outscoring Donnie Carr in the second half leads to only one thing -- a Penn blowout.

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