La Salle played at No. 3 Villanova Saturday. Last night, La Salle played against a team coached by a man who once played for some great Villanova teams.

There was a difference, a 30-point difference.

The Wildcats outclassed the Explorers. The drop in class was evident early against Lafayette, coached by former Wildcats guard Fran O'Hanlon.

What was difficult against the 'Cats was not so hard against the Leopards. La Salle played from behind against Villanova and never was allowed to think it could win. The Explorers played from ahead against Lafayette and never looked like anything but a winner at Gola Arena.

When the numbers were added up at the finish, La Salle won, 79-67. The Explorers (4-2) held Lafayette (4-4) to 28.1 percent shooting in the first half and led, 35-23. The Explorers were just too big and too strong on offense for Lafayette to do much beyond hoping they would miss. They did not miss nearly enough, shooting 53.3 percent for the game.

"We're pleased every time we win," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "Our rebounding was as good as it normally is."

It was a 42-26 crush job on the glass.

"It is well known in coaching circles that Lafayette's offense is very hard to guard," Giannini said.

It certainly was in the second half, when Lafayette shot 55.2 percent.

"I think they were shooting 100 percent on us until 5 minutes to go," said Giannini, whose team shot 64.3 percent in the second half.

La Salle senior Ruben Guillandeaux (stress fracture, right foot) remained in street clothes on the bench. He could be out for several weeks or much longer, depending on how his foot reacts to rest and treatment. If he is out for quite a long time, it is a very big loss for La Salle.

"I'm a coach who doesn't allow himself to worry about [who isn't playing]," Giannini said. "Obviously, we lose a ballhandler, a shooter, hurts our depth . . . He is going to be evaluated on an ongoing basis."

The Explorers still have senior Rodney Green, who finished with 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting. After an atypical game against the Wildcats, who seem to produce a lot of those for their opponents, Green looked much more like himself last night.

"It lingered until the next practice," Green said of the Villanova game.

Late in the first half, the man who coached more winning games at La Salle than anyone else was introduced. It was the first time Speedy Morris had been at a La Salle game since he was let go following the 2000-01 season. He has been at Gola coaching St. Joseph's Prep.

"Lot of good memories here," Morris said.

Early in 2010, Morris will be inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame and the La Salle Hall of Fame. Morris sat behind the Lafayette bench, supporting Jim Mower, one of his former Prep players.

Mower, who had been shooting 50 percent from the arc, could not find the range against La Salle, shooting 3-for-9 overall and 0-for-3 from the arc. Neither could Lafayette's leading scorer, Jared Mintz. He came into the game shooting 66.1 percent, but missed all six of his first-half shots. He made all five of his shots in the second half, including one he got credit for after it flew in off the hand of La Salle's Aaric Murray.

When Lafayette closed to 63-56 with 6 1/2 minutes left, Green hit consecutive treys in 24 seconds to end any thoughts of a comeback/upset.

"Whatever comes, comes," Green said when asked whether he was looking to score at that point. "Why not shoot it? That's what I worked all summer for."

It certainly looked it on those shots.

"They're a handful for us," O'Hanlon said. "We were a little tentative early. Sometimes, as a coach, you build up a team [too much] . . . I thought our offense ran much better in the second half."

The teams combined to make 20 of their first 26 second-half shots. That was fun to watch and a positive for undermanned Lafayette. But trading baskets was not going to change the outcome. And it did not. *