La Salle University - Explorer Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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La Salle Competes in Title Game for the First Time in Over Thirty Years By Ed Skorpinski The 1986-87 edition of Explorer Bas- ketball has to be broken into two dis- tinct seasons. The first ended as an- other one of those couia have been seasons with an opening round loss to Fairfield in the MAAC Championships. The seconp, however, began on March 12 with an first round National Invitational Tournament victory over Villanova at the DuPont Pavilon and continued until the championship game versus Southern Mississippi. Al- though they lost in their final game against tough USM outside shooting, La Salle reignited the winning spirit that has been dormant at 20th and Olney since the days of Tom Gola. Led by their new coach Bill Speedy Morris, the Explorers showea that La Salle bas- ketball is back and will be worth watch- ing in future years. During the regular season, the Explor- ers faced a tough scheaule that includ- ed four of the country ' s top teams, namely Temple, North Carolina (rankea No. 1 in the nation at the time), DePaul, ana Notre Dame (who had just beaten No. 1 North Carolina during their previous game), In all four games, La Salle took an early lead, only to let it escape their grasp during the last few minutes. Nevertheless, the team earned respect, and the Palestra be- came a corner that visiting teams feared. In MAAC play, the Explorers would slowly rise to the top throughout the season, beating every team in the conference at least once before en- tering the MAAC Championship tour- nament at the Meaaowlanas. The reasons for La Salle ' s success in- cluded both individual and team per- formances. Highly recruited freshman forward Lionel Simmons, named to the Freshman All-American team, led all NCAA freshemn in scoring ana re- bounas, in aadition to leading the team in scoring, rebounas, steals, and blockea shots. Senior captain Larry Kor- etz, at forward, who led the team in three-point goals, finished his college career having started every game. Having scored a season high 32 points against Eastern Kentucky, junior guara forward Tim Legler finished sec- ond on the La Salle scoring list. The oth- er two starters, sophomore center for- ward Craig Conlin ana junior guard Rich Tarr enjoyed fine seasons, with Tarr dishing out a record 189 assists. The first two men off the bench were senior guara Gary Jones and senior center Ron Barnes, who was second on the team in blocked shots. Freshman for- ward Bob Johnson, junior forward Ken Palczewski, sophomore guard Len Rob- inson, .junior center Eric Lee and sopho- more Marvin Woods saw more limited playing time. Lee was also injured dur- ing the fifth game of the season and never returned. As a team, La Salle provided a bal- anced attack that stymied opposing teams. Unlike previous years, in which the offense centerea around one or two players, the Explorers ' four-to- score offense was tough to defend against. Koretz, Legler, and Simmons took turns as game high-scorer, and nearly every game had at least four players in double figures. The only in- gredient the Explorer game plan lacked was a strong inside game. Al- though the team possessed very tal- ented perimeter shooters, the ab- sence of a dominant center cost La Salle the edge in a number of games. Especially near the end of the second half, after opposing defenses adjusted to the perimeter offense, even the La Salle ' s best shooters lost their effective- ness, As mentioned earlier, this was Speedy Morris ' first year at the helm, taking over from departed head coach Lefty Ervin. Previously, Morris had been the successful coach of La Salle ' s Women ' s Basketball team and a long- time high school coach at Roman Catholic. It was Morris ' reputation that help convince Simmons to come to La Salle, and there is no doubt that it will help in future recruiting as well. As Rich Tarr remarked, Speedy tried to take the pressure off of the players (that the rest of the campus placed on them) . . . he made us feel confident that we could beat any team, even the big schools like North Carolina and DePaul. Entering the MAAC Championships, La Salle was the clear favorite, but ev- eryone knew from past experience that there are no guarantees. After the opening loss to Fairfield, most people wrote off the season as typical , re- ferring to the Explorers ' finish in recent seasons. A surprise bia in the NIT, how- ever, gave La Salle a second life and they made the most of it. Following the 86-84 win over Villanova, the Explorers beat Niagara 89-81 in Buffalo, destor- yed Illinois State, 70-50, at the Palestra before 5,000 screaming fans, ana blew out Arkansas-Littl Rock, 92-73, in the NIT semifinals at Madison Sguare Garaen. In the finals of a major post-season tournament for the first time in over thir- ty years, the Explorers sent the campus into a frenzy. Thirty busses, carrying blue and gold-claa students, faculty, alumni and friends, made the trip to New York City for the big game. With La Salle ' s perimeter shots miss- ing the mark in the first half, USM ' s three-pointers put the Explorers down by as many as ten early. By halftime, though, the team was able to climb back to within five points, 39-34. In the seconp half, La Salle managea to tie the game at 43-43, but the Golden Ea- gles ' would again extend their lead to over ten points midway through the half. With less than a minute left, USM led by eight, 82-74. Then, a Simmons tip, a Jones steal, two Tarr foul shots, a Conlin basket and a USM five-second violation put the Explorers within two, 82-80, ana gave them the ball with only fifteen seconas left. The miracle come- back would not continue, however, as USM forced a turnover with a tight de- fense ana maae two foul shots to ice the game. One more basket would have been super, but no one can really be upset over the finish of the 1986-87 team. As everyone else has already told you, thanks for a great season, Explorers. Thanks for all of the excitement, and take it even farther next year. i 4 i

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fTlens Basketball Rich Tarr shows how it ' s done against De Paul Tim Legler for two!

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Craig Conlin fights for position against Temple. Tarr concentrates on the second foul shot. La Salle Opp. 58 Penn State 59 68 Central Florida 43 66 Temple 70 83 Army 63 93 Villanova 86 79 Maine 66 65 Georgia 82 98 Eastern Kentucky 83 70 St. Joseph ' s 77 102 Northeastern 85 72 North Carolina 79 68 lona 75 79 Fordham 87 102 Manhattan 69 79 Holy Cross 59 60 Fairfield 63 65 St. Peter ' s 56 69 Fordham (OT) 66 too lona 85 54 De Paul 58 64 Notre Dame (OT) 76 76 Manhattan 62 90 Holy Cross 63 58 Fairfield 54 80 Pennsylvania 72 68 St. Peter ' s 61 59 Army 68 75 Fairfield 54 86 Villanova 84 89 Niagara 81 70 Illinois State 50 92 Arkansas-LR. 73 80 Southern Miss. 84 I v 4 Eric Lee skies and slams for two in a scrimmage match at Hayman Hall.