Jan. 12, 2011
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PHILADELPHIA -
Senior Ruben Guillandeaux scored 22 of his 24 points after halftime and sophomore Aaric Murray returned to the court with 19 points and eight rebounds to lead La Salle past Penn, 89-83, in overtime on Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena.
"It felt real good [to be back out there]," Murray said, after sitting out Saturday's Richmond game due to a coach's decision. "I think he Coach made a good decision."
The first five minutes of the game showed a lot of offense and little defense as the Explorers and Quakers traded quick points to make the score 13-12 after which La Salle began to pull away and scored seven unanswered points.
La Salle's increased defensive efforts were good enough to limit the second leading scorer in the Ivy League, Zack Rosen (15.7 ppg), to only two points in the first half.
Penn's Jack Eggleston added only had four first half points, but added nine rebounds.
Freshman Tyreek Duren knocked down a big three with less than five minutes in the first half to stop the Quakers from closing in on the Explorer's lead.
It would have been easy for Penn to blame their sporadic schedule which has seen them play only three games since December 8, but Penn coach Jerome Allen refused to use the layoff as a "crutch."
"I just think overall we played a terrible basketball game on both ends of the floor," Allen said. "We didn't come ready to defend."
The Quakers may have started off the second half with a basket but the Explorers quickly responded with Murray's jumper and a long three by Guillandeaux who really heated up in the second half.
"I felt the team needed a little jolt," Guillandeaux said of his late rhythm. "I took it upon myself to contribute."
The Explorers continued the onslaught of offensive play scoring six points in two minutes led by Murray and a trey by Guillandeaux.
The Explorers punctuated the entire game with treys from beyond the arc. Duren made both of his three point attempts, Guillandeaux finished with three treys, Mills added one early in the second half and junior Earl Pettis notched two.
Rosen's foul near the end of regulation on Guillandeaux, who made both shots, and Jerrell Williams's last minute three brought the game to 76-73, a score that did not reflect the level of control the Explorers exercised over the Quaker's offensive production in the first half.
Despite, Rosen's late start he finished with 19 points, nearly all of which came after intermission, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead the Quakers comeback.
With less than 30 seconds left of regulation Williams fouled Penn's Eggleston during a three point attempt. Eggleston's three made free throws tied the game at 76 apiece and forced the game into overtime.
"I didn't think we even deserved to be in the game," Rosen said of the Quaker's 13 point comeback. "I think we got lucky. If anything we should be disappointed."
In an overtime period that opened with the Quakers within two of tying the game La Salle held on, largely because of their accuracy at the foul line where they made nine of their eleven free throw attempts in overtime.
"The bright spots are that we really responded well going into overtime," Gianinni said of the Explorer's ability to make key plays under such pressure. "That's a hard thing to do mentally when you had a good lead."
Cartwright and Stefan traded fouls in the last minute of a tense overtime; Cartwright missed his after making a three pointer and Stefan made one of his two to keep the Quakers six away.
Stefan added two more points from the foul line which Penn followed with a number of missed three point attempts for the Explorers to clutch the victory with a score of 89-83.
Duren finished with 15 points, Williams with 10 points and five rebounds and Earl Pettis feed three assists to Explorer teammates while scoring eight of his own. Mills had seven points, two assists and one block. Steve Weingarten had three.
"We've been down this road before but today we got it done," Guillandeaux said of the Explorer's hard fought overtime win.
