Soft Pretzel Logic

NOTE: Fordham-St. Joe's stuff, including video of Phil Martelli, is here.

ATLANTIC CITY -- It's the Explorers' first ever Atlantic 10 Tournament game in Atlantic City, so why shouldn't I give liveblogging a spin?

Perhaps because their opponent, Duquesne, has the sixth-fastest tempo in the country at 75.6 possessions per 40 minutes. So to put it one way, there's no chance I get every basket down on here. But I'll do what I can.

Pregame: We've got just under a minute to go and the La Salle band is here, playing the fight song as the Explorers dance in a circle at center court. They're pumped up, and it looks like the La Salle fans are too.

The Explorers' student section has about 35 people in it, which is actually quite a bit more than what St. Joe's brought -- though the 6:30 start has a lot to do with that.

Not many Duquesne fans in the house; most of the red I can see is worn by Dayton fans. Good for them for sticking around.

The starting lineups:

Duquesne

F Jr 1 Aaron Jackson
F Fr 25 Damian Saunders
C Sr 2 Kieron Achara
G Sr 3 Reggie Jackson
G Sr 22 Gary Tucker

La Salle

F Fr 20 Jerrell Williams
F Jr 31 Paul Johnson
C So 12 Yves Mekongo Mbala
G So 10 Rodney Green
G Sr 11 Darnell Harris

19:47 1st, 2-0 La Salle: Rodney Green opens the scoring with a layup.

19:27 1st, 2-2: An Aaron Jackson putback gets Duqesne on the board.

19:09 1st, 5-2 La Salle: And there's Darnell Harris' first three of the night.

16:37 1st, 13-11 La Salle: Rodney Green to Paul Johnson for a gorgeous slam in which Johnson was well above the rim.

16:26 1st, 15-11 La Salle: A Duquesne turnover, and Yves Mekongo Mbala throws down a fastbreak slam of his own.

16:56 1st, 15-14 La Salle: We hit the first media timeout, and there is just no way I can keep up with the tempo of this thing. Thus far, I count 8 possessions and 1.803 points per possession for La Salle to 8 possessions and 1.75 PPP for Duquesne.

I am going to try to keep up with the number in the possessions in the game at the very least, updating the stat at media timeouts.

But if you extrapolate that four-ish-minute stretch and multiply it by 10, you get 80 possessions a side. Which is a heck of a lot.

12:47 1st, 23-20 Duquesne: Kieron Achara, all 6-foot-10 of him, is wide open at the top of the arc and drains a three. Nice shot, though not great by La Salle to leave him unmarked.

11:41 1st, 23-20 Duquesne: Shawn James swats a driving Rodney Green layup out of bounds and we hit the second media timeout. And we're up to 16 possessions for Duquesne and 17 for La Salle.

7:37 1st, 31-25 La Salle: David Theis hits a three for Duquesne, and John Giannini decides he's seen enough to call a timeout.

6:30 1st, 31-29 La Salle: And the Explorers make a little run. We hit the media timeout, and it's 30 possessions to 28 for Duquesne.

4:26 1st, 32-32: On the fastbreak, Ruben Guillandeaux hits a nice spinning layup to tie the score.

3:54 1st, 34-32 Duquesne: At the last media timeout of the half, it's 33 possessions for La Salle and 32 for Duquesne. So things have slowed down a little bit, I suppose.

HALFTIME, 39-36 La Salle: Nice turnaround for the Explorers, who scored seven straight before Duquesne's Reggie Jackson hit a layup with 1:16 left in the half. No points since then, though.

Here are the stats:

Duquesne shot 15-for-35 from the field (42.9%), including 5-for-12 from three-point range (41.7%) and 10-for-23 from two-point range (43.5%), and 1-for-3 from the free throw line (33.3%). Seven offensive rebounds, 13 defensive rebounds, six assists, 10 turnovers, five blocks, seven steals and 10 fouls committed.

That adds up to 39 possessions and 0.991 points per possession.

La Salle shot 15-for-34 from the field (44.1%), including 3-for-5 from three-point range (60.0%) and 12-for-29 from two-point range (41.4%), and 6-for-12 from the free throw line (50.0%). 10 offensive rebounds, 14 defensive rebounds, 10 assists, 12 turnovers, zero blocks, three steals and eight fouls committed.

That adds up to 41 possessions and 0.872 points per possession.

Yves Mekongo Mbala leads all scorers with nine points on 3-for-5 shooting; he also has six rebounds. Aaron Jackson, Reggie Jackson and Gary Tucker all have eight points for Duquesne; Aaron Jackson is 4-for-4 from the field.

19:35 2nd, 41-36 Duquesne: Reggie Jackson hits a short jumper to open the second half.
19:28 2nd, 41-38 Duquesne: Darnell Harris replies with a layup off the glass.

15:52 2nd, 47-44 Duquesne: Here we are at the first media timeout, and the Dukes have swung the game back in their favor. The tempo is also picking up a bit, with both teams having now recorded 47 possessions.

14:27 2nd, 48-47 La Salle: Kimmani Barrett gets a putback to go down and draws the foul from Duquesne's Shawn James. The free throw is no good, but Sherman Diaz grabs the rebound and tips it in to give the Explorers the lead.

12:30 2nd, 55-51 La Salle: Nice dish from Harris to Mekongo Mbala for an open three.

12:10 2nd, 55-54 La Salle: But Reggie Jackson answers with a three of his own at the other end.

11:59 2nd, 55-54 La Salle: Media timeout. Possessions are 53 apiece.

11:34 2nd, 57-55 Duquesne: Reggie Jackson has an open look from three, but Sherman Diaz knocks him over as the shot is en route. It falls short, but Jackson makes all three free throws. Ouch.

9:13 2nd, 65-60 Duquesne: Reggie Jackson makes a tough layup to stretch the Dukes' lead to five points, and John Giannini calls timeout. I'm about as far from a Yankees fan as it gets, but the fact that a guy named Reggie Jackson is having a big game in a conference tournament is kind of cool.

5:53 2nd, 72-65 Duquesne: Somehow or other, Kojo Mensah jumps up between a bunch of people for a big slam. As in at least two, maybe three people.

3:40 2nd, 73-72 Duquesne: Rodney Green's layup is touched coming down off the glass, but goes in anyway. So we get the last media timeout of the game. But I can't do the possessions math because the live stats I was using got stuck at the 9:13 mark.

I'm hearing from readers that it's broken for everyone, so hold on for what could be a bumpy ride...

2:49 2nd, 74-72 Duquesne: Mensah tips a Darnell Harris out of bounds, with Duquesne having intercepted a Harris pass on the previous possession.

2:36 2nd, 74-74: Layup by Jerrell Williams:

2:19 2nd, 76-74 Duquesne: Answered by Shawn James.

2:12 2nd, 76-76: Darnell Harris makes two free throws.

1:48 2nd, 79-76 Duquesne: Kickout to Reggie Jackson for three.

1:32 2nd, 79-76 Duquesne: Charge on Rodney Green driving to the basket. I couldn't see who took it but I wasn't so sure he had stopped moving.

1:04 2nd, 79-76 Duquesne: Timeout La Salle.

0:57 2nd, 79-79: The heck with the guys defending him, Darnell Harris pulls up for an NBA-range there and nails it. And at the other end, Harris gets a piece of James' driving layup and it falls to la Salle.

0:23.8 2nd, 80-79: Aaron Jackson reaches in on Rodney Green and is whistled for it, and can't believe it. But was a foul.

Harris misses the first free throw and hits the second.

0:21.1 2nd, 80-79 La Salle: Duquesne crosses midcourt and Dukes coach Ron Everhart calls a full timeout.

And then John Giannini calls timeout before the ball is inbounded.

0:13.7 2nd, 80-79 La Salle: I have no idea why, but Kojo Mensah threw a pass to the left corner... and there wasn't anyone there in either jersey. Unless you count the bench, and the guys at that part of it were wearing red.

0:12.7 2nd, 82-79 La Salle: The Explorers get off the inbounds pass and Mensah fouls Ruben Guillandeaux. The first free throw rolls around the rim and in; the second is nothing but net.