By Paul Casey Gotham
Setting: It’s an Atlantic 10 clash when John Giannini brings his La Salle Explorers (12-13/ 4-6) to the Reilly Center in Olean, New York for a tilt with Mark Schmidt and the St. Bonavanture Bonnies (12-10/ 4-5).
Plot: Both teams will be looking to make it two wins in a row with the Explorers defeating St. Louis 78-77 on Wednesday. The Bonnies gave Duquesne their first conference loss last Saturday when Michael Davenport hit a 3-pointer with one second remaining for the 64-62 triumph.
Sub-plot: Conference positioning is on the line. The Bonnies can move into a virtual tie for sixth in the league. La Salle will look to move into the top half of the A10 slate.
La Salle’s Earl Pettis has made his last 29 free throws which is tops in the nation.
Flashback: Andrew Nicholson scored 24, and Chris Matthews added 21 as the Bonnies won 77-66 in Philadelphia last year. La Salle holds an 11-10 advantage in the all-time series with the Bonnies taking six of eight at the Reilly Center.
The Explorers have made 11 appearances in the NCAA tournament including 1954’s national championship team. Bonaventure appeared in the 2000 NCAA Tournament. The Bonnies reached the 1970 national semi-finals.
Foreshadowing: Twenty-two Explorers have gone on to play in the National Basketball Association including Rasual Butler who is averaging 19 minutes per game with the Los Angeles Clippers. Fifteen Bonnies have laced them up in the N.B.A. including hall-of-famer, Bob Lanier.
Giannini on the Explorers: “We’ve been very good on the road. We just won at Charlotte and at Rhode Island. It’s kind of strange for a team to be like that, but we’ve been like that for a number of years now. We expect great challenges. There’s no one in this league that we could possibly look at as being anything less than a great challenge.”
Schmidt on the Bonnies: “Everybody talks about Andrew Nicholson, and Andrew is a very talented player. But we got other players. It’s not always Andrew. A win against Duquesne gives our guys confidence that we can beat an elite team. We’ve had some close games. We’ve given up some leads. But a game like that where we finally finished and had some luck go our way, hopefully can help us the rest of the way.”
Schmidt on the Explorers: “We always have great games against La Salle. They’re a team that plays multiple defenses (Aaric) Murray is an extremely talented guy. They do a great job on the offensive glass. Murray and (Jerrell) Williams have over 70 offensive rebounds. They’re a very long, athletic team. They’re shooting 45 percent from the field, so they’re very good offensively. They’re averaging 77 points a game.
Conflict: The Explorers shoot 45.4 percent from the field scoring 77 a game while holding opponents to 78 on 44.9 percent shooting. St. Bonaventure shoots 44.2 accounting for 68.8 points, but the Bonnines keep opposing teams to 69.5 point on 41.9 percent shooting.
The Explorers and Bonnies are nearly identical on the glass with a rebound margin just under three.
The game brings together two of the elite players in the league in Murray and Nicholson. Rivals.com ranks Murray as the 18th best center in the country while pegging Nicholson as the number 15 power forward in the nation.
The game, though, will be decided by the remaining players. Ogo Adegboye struggled against Duquesne’s. The Explorers are not likely to match the Dukes’ pressure. Matthew Wright’s contributions off the bench make the Bonnies a difficult match-up for La Salle.
Resolution: The magic of the Reilly Center will carry the Bonnies to their second consecutive win.
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