A-10 Championship Central | A-10 Tournament Bracket  | La Salle Postseason Central

PHILADELPHIA – While it has been a roller coaster season for La Salle men's basketball, it enters the post-season on a roll, winners in three of its last four contests. The Explorers enter the 2014 A-10 Tournament as the #8 seed, facing #9 seed St. Bonaventure in a opening round matchup at noon on Thursday March 13. The Explorers will look to make a run to take the championship and earn a second consecutive NCAA berth.

La Salle Explorers (15-15, 7-9 A-10) vs. St. Bonaventure (16-14, 6-10 A-10)
Thursday, March 13, 2014 | 12:00 PM | Barclays Center

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Game Notes
La Salle | SBU

Last Time Out
The Explorers closed out the regular season on a high-note, spoiling senior day for their A-10 and Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's with a 71-63 victory over the Hawks. The Blue and Gold played perhaps its best stretch of the season over the back half of the opening 20-minutes of play to stake themselves to a 33-23 lead at the half. The Explorers held the Hawks to just 30.8% shooting from the field, while forcing ten first half turnovers, as La Salle closed the half on a 21-5 run over the final 9:19.
 
The Hawks came out of the gates strong in the second 20-minutes, going on a 7-0 run to close the La Salle lead to 33-30 just 2:16 into the second stanza. However, the Explorers answered with a 9-0 run to expand the lead back to a comfortable 12-points. They would not allow the Hawks to close within five points the rest of the game. The win gave the Explorers a 3-1 record in the Big 5 this season, the second consecutive year they've secured three wins in Big 5 play. The 6-2 two-year mark is the best two-year stretch for the Explorers since 1988-90, where they went 7-1.
 
Tyreek Duren was phenomenal in his final regular season game for the Explorers. He scored a season-high 27 points, adding five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Duren did most of his damage from the charity stripe, going 16-of-17, coming within two of equaling Lionel Simmons school record of 18.
 
Jerrell Wright played another strong game, notching a double-double for the second time against the Hawks this season. He poured in 17 points, while snatching 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.
 
Explorer Notes

• With their 75^th win on Sunday against Saint Joseph's, the senior class of Taylor Dunn, Tyreek Duren, Sam Mills, and Tyrone Garland are the winningest class in the past 22 years at La Salle.
• Tyreek Duren finished the year 3^rd in the Atlantic 10 in three-point shooting (.417) and 8^th in three-pointers/game (1.9). Over his last seven contests, he is 18-for-33 (.545) from behind the arc. He finished the year shooting 37-for-77 (.481) from three in A-10 games.
• With the 27-point performance in the regular season finale against St. Joseph's, Tyreek Duren passed La Salle greats Jack Hurd and Tim Legler to move into 14^th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,714 career points. He needs 51 to pass Victor Thomas '01 into 13^th place.
• La Salle is 15-3 when scoring at least 70 points, with two of those losses coming in double-overtime against Manhattan and VCU.
• Head Coach Dr. John Giannini has guided the Explorers to four Atlantic 10 Tournament wins, the most of any coach in program history.
• La Salle wrapped up the regular season with 23^rd ranked strength of schedule in NCAA Division I. It is best strength of schedule in program history, since it became a tracked statistic in the mid 1990's.
• Jerrell Wright is heating up at just the right time for the Explorers. He has made 33 of his last 53 shots from the field (.623) in his last four games. He will be a major factor if the Explorers hope to make a deep A-10 Tournament run.

 
Season Series Against St. Bonaventure
The Explorers split the season series with St. Bonaventure, with each team winning on their own home floor. The Bonnies dealt the Explorers their first A-10 loss of the season back on January 22, doing so with stifling defense. St. Bonaventure limited an Explorer squad that had averaged 74.6 points over their five previous contests to just 51 points, in the 66-51 defeat.
 
While the St. Bonaventure defense was stifling in the first matchup, the Explorers had little trouble scoring in the Bonnies return trip to Tom Gola Arena. The Explorers had their best shooting performance of the season against St. Bonaventure on February 26, going 26-for-46 from the field (.565) and 7-for-13 (.538) from three-point range in the 75-67 victory. The Explorers showed poise down the stretch, outscoring the Bonnies 8-0 over the final two-minutes to secure the victory.
 
Tyreek Duren paced the way for the Explorers in the season series, averaging 17.0 points/game in the two contests. Matthew Wright was the leading scorer for the Bonnies, averaging 14.0 points/game.
 
The crucial issue in the two matchups was how the teams were able to limit the secondary scorers. In the Explorers loss at St. Bonaventure Jerrell Wright was limited to just five points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field in 28 minutes of action. However, in the Explorers victory over the Bonnies he tied for the team lead with 18 points, going 8-of-12 from the field. On the flip side, St. Bonaventure senior guard Charlon Kloof led all scorers with 18 points and 7 assists in their victory, but netted just six points in their loss to the Explorers. The team that will best be able to slow down the opponent's complimentary scorers will have the advantage.
 
Previous A-10 Tournament Matchups – St. Bonaventure
The Explorers have faced the Bonnies one other time in A-10 Tournament play, defeating them on the Bonnies on their home floor 75-73 in double-overtime in the opening round of the 2011 A-10 Tournament. The Explorers stared down the barrel of defeat at three separate junctures in the seesaw contest, however, the Blue and Gold hit the big shots in the big moments to pull off the upset victory over the Bonnies. Senior Ruben Guillandeaux tied the game at the end of regulation and the first overtime session, setting the stage for fellow classmate Steve Weingarten to hit a game-winning three-pointer with 32 seconds remaining in double-overtime.
 
Quarterfinal Matchup – Saint Louis
If the Explorers are able to defeat St. Bonaventure in the opening round game they will face Saint Louis for a Quarterfinal matchup on Friday at noon.
 
La Salle came up just short in their only matchup against Saint Louis this season. The Explorers came within a whisker of dealing Saint Louis their first conference loss of the season when the Billikens visited Tom Gola Arena for a nationally televised game on February 8. After trailing by a slim margin for the majority of the second half, the Explorers tied the game at 63-all on a Tyreek Duren layup with just 33 seconds remaining. However, senior guard Jordair Jett made another huge play on the way to being named A-10 Player of the Year earlier this week, slashing to the bucket for an off-balanced layup over the Explorers best shot-blocker Steve Zack to push the Billikens ahead with 4 seconds to play. A half-court buzzer beater by Tyrone Garland went just long, clanging off the backboard, sending the Explorers to the slim 65-63 defeat.
 
The Explorer big combo of Jerrell Wright and Steve Zack played an outstanding game in the loss. Wright led the Explorers with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Zack added a double-double with 15 points and 13 boards. They also limited the big combo of Rob Loe and Dwayne Evans to just 18 combined points, going just 8-of-18 combined from the floor.
 
Previous A-10 Tournament Matchups – Saint Louis
La Salle has faced Saint Louis in the A-10 Tournament twice under head coach Dr. John Giannini, coming up just short in both contests.
 
The Explorers faced the Billikens in the opening round of the 2009 A-10 Tournament in a #8/#9 matchup. Rodney Green scored a game-high 24-points, including the game-tying layup to force overtime against the Billikens. However, Kwamain Mitchell ended the Explorers tournament run with a layup at the buzzer to push the Billikens over the top 62-60 in the overtime session.
 
The Explorers also faced the Billikens in a #7/#2 matchup in the Quarterfinals of the 2012 A-10 Tournament. Earl Pettis led the way for the Explorers with 18 points, while Ramon Galloway and Tyreek Duren chipped in 14 and 13 points respectively. The Explorers were able to close the gap within one-point with under five minutes to play, but it would not be enough, as the Billikens were able to stave off the Explorers late charge 78-71.