Jan. 19, 2011

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Senior Ruben Guillandeaux had 24 points put him into the 1,000 career points category at La Salle, but the Explorers fell to Duquesne, 88-71, on Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena. He becomes the 50th Explorer and second this season to reach the milestone. Duquesne won for the seventh straight time and remains in first place in the Atlantic 10.

The Explorers held the lead for most of the first half until the Dukes went on a tear of 11 straight points to tie the score at 41. They took over the lead with senior Bill Clark's two free throws but sophomore Aaric Murray's dunk with three and half minutes left tied the game again at 43.

Freshman Cole Stefan hit a three pointer with a minute and a half left to try to widen the Explorer's small lead but Duquesne guard Eric Evans's jumper tied the score for the third time in the first half. Both teams went into the locker room with 47 points apiece.

Duquesne pressed full court for the first half to force 11 LU turnovers. Duquesne turned those into 14 points. However, La Salle managed 12 points off of Duquesne's six turnovers in the first half.

Guillandeaux led the Explorers with 17 points in the first half, Williams had 14 points, three assists and eight rebounds.

Back from halftime, Duquesne's Damian Saunders was the first to score but another trey from Stefan three minutes later forced another tie at 53.

The Dukes (12-5, 4-0 A-10) gave up their full court press in the second half to better protect their wings. The new defensive tactic, to shut down the Explorer's outside game, resulted in only seven more points for Guillandeaux and three more for Williams. Duquesne's defense also finished with a school-record 17 steals.

"They play a unique style of play," Explorer head coach Dr. John Giannini said. "They've had a lot of success with that and for good reason. We're not the only team that's struggled."

The score continued to seesaw back and forth between the two teams but after a layup by Guillandeaux with thirteen minutes left the Dukes went on a 7-0 run. Freshman Tyreek Duren broke the Explorer slide with a fast break layup of his own but it was not enough for the Explorers to close the widening gap created by the Dukes.

Five Duquesne players reached double figures in scoring. Clark led the team with 21 points, Saunders notched 16, T.J. McConnell and B.J. Monteiro both had 13 and Sean Johnson finished with ten points. Clark also had three blocks.

Sophomore Devon White got his first start of the season and had seven points. Though limited by Duquesne's defense in the second half, Williams still managed a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

The Explorers (8-11, 0-4 A-10) will next travel to Kingston, RI to face conference opponent Rhode Island on Saturday at 2 p.m.