By Paul Gotham
Tyrone Garland has made a habit of saving seasons for La Salle’s Explorers.
Last March his “Southwest Philly Floater” at the buzzer found bottom of the net, and La Salle advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.
This past November the senior guard donned his cape and emerged from the phone booth once again. But this time it wasn’t what Garland did on the court, rather it was what he said in the locker room.
With La Salle limping, both literally and figuratively, to a 3-4 start, Garland had seen enough, and he knew it was time to let head coach Dr. John Giannini know that something was wrong with his teammate.
“He said: ‘I know you don’t know this,’” Giannini relayed during the weekly Atlantic 10 tele-conference. “’But Tyreek (Duren) can’t even sleep at night he’s in so much pain.”
Duren confirmed his teammate’s concern and when the Explorers (11-6/3-0) returned from the Virgin Islands, he was diagnosed with planar fasciitis.
La Salle’s medical staff worked with the Bob Cousy Award Watch List candidate to find the proper treatment and medicine to ease the pain. Eventually an anti-flammatory was found to work. Since that point La Salle has won five straight and six of seven with their only setback coming on the road to Miami.
“Since we’ve been back from the Virgin Islands we’ve been more like the team we anticipated we’d have,” Giannini stated. “Of course, for us to have the team we believe we have, Tyreek Duren has to be near his best.”
Duren leads La Salle with more than 14 points a game, and his assist to turnover rate of 2.4 leads the A-10. He has committed just nine turnovers in his past seven games (226 minutes).
The Explorers take their unbeaten conference record to Bob Lanier Court Wednesday night when they square off with St. Bonaventure’s Bonnies. Bona head coach Mark Schmidt knows his team will need to slow Duren if they are to win.
“He’s terrific. He makes them go,” Schmidt commented. “Just like (Chaz) Williams for UMass and (Jordair) Jett’s the engine for St. Louis, Tyreek is the engine for La Salle. He’s a consummate team player. Somebody who can score when he needs to score, can deliver the pass when he needs to deliver. He gives those guys courage and keeps them under control.”
The Bonnies (11-7/1-3) are at or near the top off rebounding categories in the conference. Giannini knows that taking care of SBU’s frontcourt is paramount, but he is more worried about Bona’s backcourt.
“Guard play is the key,” Giannini noted. “Defending their guards is going to be the most important factor in the game for us.”
Senior guard Matthew Wright leads three Bonnies in double figures with 15.4 points a game. Charlon Kloof 11.9, and Andell Cumberbatch chips in 10.8.
Duren needs one more point to become the 20th Explorer to reach 1,500 point plateau. He needs four more assists to move into fourth on La Salle’s all-time list. He currently has 458. Duren and Doug Overton are the only Explorers with 1,500 career points and 450 career assists.
A 9 p.m. tip time is scheduled at the Reilly Center. The CBS Sports Network will televise the game.
Giannini needs no introduction to the Bonaventure student section
“They get on you from warm-ups. There are a lot of places where they get on you during the game. But when you walk out there an hour before the game, the students are already on you. They’ve said some of the funnies things to me and my players that I’ve experienced. I probably can’t repeat them here, publicly. They’re terrific.”
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