La Salle-Fordham men's basketball game story for the Philadelphia Daily News

La Salle holds off Fordham's charge, 83-78

By DENIS GORMAN

For the Daily News

NEW YORK - With every missed shot, the crowd in the small gym in the Bronx grew raucous. With every defensive stop, the noise level rose.

It had not been an enjoyable evening for La Salle's Darnell Harris, who repeatedly missed shots and turned the ball over.

And then, with one shot, the senior guard reminded everyone why the Explorers will go as far as he takes them. Harris' three from 25 feet away with 2:12 remaining pushed La Salle to an 83-78 win over Fordham last night at Rose Hill Gym.

Matched up most of the night against Fordham guards Marcus Stout and Kevin Anderson, Harris shot 2-of-8 and finished with six points. Yet La Salle head coach John Giannini wasn't concerned about Harris' off-night.

"We don't need Darnell to score for us to win," said Giannini with a straight face. "[Not many players] can make an NBA three. For him, it was a regular shot."

Prior to Harris' heroics, the Explorers were carried by the foursome of Ruben Guillandeaux, Kimmani Barrett, Rodney Green and Jerrell Williams. Green led La Salle with 19. Guillandeaux scored 15 in 20 minutes. Williams and Barrett added 14 and 10, respectively. They kept the Explorers in the game when it looked as if Fordham was on track to pull the upset.

Almost as importantly, the quartet was able to match Fordham senior forward Bryant Dunston bucket for bucket. The defensively challenged Explorers could not contain Fordham senior forward Bryant Dunston on the interior. Dunston finished with 25 points, courtesy of a variety of hooks, layups and dunks. He also grabbed 12 rebounds, his 15th double-double of the season. Yet in the last 5 minutes, facing a trap, he was nonexistent.

"You can't guard Dunston one-on-one without an elite post defender," Giannini said. "We had to trap him."

Green's three right before the half tied the game at 45. But the coach was not pleased.

"No. No. No. We're never pleased until the game is over," Giannini said.

La Salle jumped out to a 17-11 lead in the game's first 7 minutes, sparked by Williams' 10 points on layups and hooks. The Explorers increased their advantage to 12 (25-13) following Barrett's three-point play and a technical foul on Fordham coach Dereck Whittenburg.

Perhaps inspired by Whittenburg's outburst, the Rams reeled off a 19-5 run to take a 32-30 lead with 4:59 remaining in the first half. The run was triggered by Dunston, who scored scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds. The teams traded hoops for the remainder of the first half.

La Salle (14-13, 8-5) has won five in a row and improved to 6-1 in A-10 road games. It was the Explorers first win against the Rams (11-14, 5-8) in the last four meetings between the schools. *

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