PHILADELPHIA – Senior Ramon Galloway (26 points) and junior Tyreek Duren (23 points) carried La Salle to a 77-74 overtime victory over Villanova on Sunday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena before a raucous crowd in the season’s Big 5 opener.
“I thought our guys showed tremendous resilience,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “We had a lot to overcome so I’m really proud of our guys.”
Down 74-73 with 28 seconds remaining, the Explorers called timeout and executed a back door play to perfection, with Duren scoring a layup at the: 18 mark, a lead the Blue and Gold would never relinquish. Sophomore Steve Zack buried a pair of free throws with six seconds remaining and the Wildcats failed to answer at the buzzer.
“I thought I was going to miss it, that’s how open I was,” Duren said, when asked about the play. “That’s exactly how Coach drew it up. I just didn’t think I was going to be that wide open.”
Duren drained 19 of his 23 points in the second half and overtime, highlighted by a contested three point basket with six seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. The junior floor general rattled off the Explorer’s final seven points in regulation and their first four in the extra session.
Galloway singlehandedly kept La Salle in the game during much of the second half, accounting for nine straight over a three minute stretch and 15 in the period. His 26 points were a game-high as well as the La Salle’s individual high on the young season.
Galloway and Duren contributed 24 of the Explorer’s final 26 points and Duren assisted on a layup converted by freshman Rohan Brown with 1:00 remaining in overtime.
“I only had one more chance to beat them [Villanova],” Galloway said. “Last year I had a concussion and I had to watch in my room on a laptop and it was hard.”
“If there was any team I wanted to beat, it was them.”
Giannini was pleased to see his point guard step up in the game’s waning minutes.
“No matter how big the moment is, he’s always the same,” Giannini said. “So it doesn’t surprise me that he would make big plays or make big shots.”
La Salle began the contest with a 23-15 lead before the visiting Wildcats began making stops and altered their offensive approach. Villanova ended the first half on a 19-7 run, paced by nine points from JayVaughn Pinkston during the push. The Wildcats led 34-30 at intermission.
La Salle stayed within striking distance for the duration of the second half but never led at any point during the frame.
The Explorers trailed by as many as six but never allowed the visitors to pull away. Duren’s three pointer at the end of regulation marked the game’s first tie since the 9:08 mark when the game was locked at 49-49.
The Explorers shot 41 percent (26-64) in the contest, including a 9-26 (35 percent) line from behind the arc and a 76 percent (16-21) clip from the charity stripe.
Conversely, Villanova converted at 47 percent (26-55) from the field, 33 percent (4-12) from three, and 69 percent (18-26) from the free throw line. The Wildcats outrebounded the Explorers 40-31, led by eight from Maurice Sutton and seven from Mouphtaou Yarou, who tallied a team-high 20 points (9-15 FG).
La Salle’s pressure stymied for the Wildcats all afternoon, forcing 18 turnovers, six of which were accounted for by freshman point guard Ryan Arcidiacono.
With the loss, Villanova fell to 3-3 on the season.
“We’re going to make sure it [the win] does not have a negative effect,” Giannini said. “All that today showed is that we’re good enough to beat a good team in a tough situation.”
The Explorers (3-1) continue their schedule at Rider on Thursday (Nov. 29) at 7 p.m.
NOTES: La Salle is 18-4 in its last 22 home games…Explorers have won 11 of last 12 non-conference regular season home games…Zack had a career-high 14 rebounds in a career-best 42 minutes…Duren was one short of a career-high, set last year at Nova…La Salle scored 29 points off turnovers, compared to nine for Villanova.
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