Nov. 18, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, PA – With five minutes and one second to play Florida State’s Deivedas Dulkys hit a three pointer to give his team a 55-52 lead and begin a series of five lead changes that ended with a 65-61 win for FSU over the La Salle Explorers on Tuesday night at Tom Gola Arena.
The Explorers (1-1) did not score for the first seven minutes of play but outscored their guests 21-6 after trailing 7-0 at the 13:11 mark of the first half. Ruben Guillandeaux (Brooklyn, NY/St. Patrick’s) hit a three-pointer for the Explorers’first bucket to spark the run. He would finish with eight points.
La Salle built as much as a nine-point lead when Kimmani Barrett (Paterson, NJ/Patterson Catholic) took a nice interior pass from Jerrell Williams (Paterson, NJ/Northfield Mount Hermon) and finished to make the score 43-34 with 10:56 to play but the Seminoles (2-0) charged right back led by senior Toney Douglas. Douglas hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to six points and would score 11 of his game-high 18 points in the final 10 and half minutes.
With his team trailing 63-61 and 20 seconds to play Williams missed a three-point attempt from the corner and the Explorers were forced to foul. Chris Singleton missed both free throws and Rodney Green (Philadelphia, PA/Prep Charter) began a sprint down the court for the potential tie. He drove the lane, absorbed defensive contact and dished the ball to Williams who could not hang on and turned it over. After being fouled with 12 seconds left Jordan Demercy hit both free throws to ice the game.
The Explorers (1-1) were led by Yves Mekongo Mbala (Elizabeth, NJ/St. Patrick’s) who had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. They outworked FSU on the boards 36-34 and forced 18 turnovers while committing 14.
The Seminoles became the first team from the Atlantic Coast Conference ever to play in Gola Arena and now lead the all-time series 3-1 after having also won in Tallahassee, 81-76, last season.
La Salle now travels to the Paradise Jam Tournament in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands where they will play three games beginning with #2 Connecticut on Friday at 6:00 PM EST.
