Guillandeaux back on track for Explorers

The most encouraging aspect for La Salle in its 89-83 overtime win against Penn on Wednesday night was the play of Ruben Guillandeaux, the 6-foot-6 fifth-year senior guard.

Although the Explorers' recent struggles were mostly the result of poor defense, Guillandeaux's three-point shooting and experience were missed as he recovered from a Christmas Day incident that led to a battery of tests to try to determine why he became light-headed while working out.

Guillandeaux missed a week of practice and the Dec. 29 game against Towson (an overtime loss), and wasn't the same in the three subsequent games. He shot a combined 0 for 13 in losses to George Washington and Richmond, but regained his stroke against Penn. He scored 24 points and shot 3 for 6 from three-point range. He had only one turnover in 36 minutes and was the key Explorer in overtime.

"It took a while to kind of get my legs under me," Guillandeaux said. "I had a couple of games where I didn't play so well, and it kind of put me into a funk."

Guillandeaux, who is from Brooklyn and helped St. Patrick win a New Jersey state championship, said he became light-headed while working out at home.

"My family was being cautious, and they called the EMT, and basically I had to go in for a bunch of tests," said Guillandeaux, who was cleared to play when the tests showed no abnormalities.

Guillandeaux played in only four games last season before a stress fracture in his foot forced him to miss the rest of the year. He became eligible for this season after the NCAA granted him a medical hardship year. For the season, he is shooting 40.5 percent (34 for 84) from behind the arc and averaging 13.3 points.

After a year in which he had three concussions and an appendectomy, freshman guard Cole Stefan finally has rounded into basketball shape.

The 6-3 Stefan built a reputation as a deadly shooter while starring for Minnetonka High in Minnesota. A standout baseball player, he was beaned twice. A third concussion occurred while he was playing basketball, and he was idle for two months. He was unable to begin practice at La Salle until a few days before the season began.

"He's been very unfortunate," coach John Giannini said. "Cole can shoot, and he has energy, and he's a decent athlete. Hopefully, he'll continue to be his usual self."

Stefan scored 15 points in 18 minutes in Saturday's loss to Richmond.

Giannini would like to see some of his players adopt the same appreciation for defense as freshman guard Sam Mills.

"If you were to ask our players - and I'm thinking of different ones right now - to describe yourself as a player, one guy would say I'm a playmaker," Mills said. "Another guy would say I can combo. I can shoot the three. I'm a big, strong guard. The only guy who would say I can really defend is Sam Mills. If you don't say, 'Hey, I'm a good defender,' how can you be a good defender if you don't think of yourself that way? We need guys who desperately want to play defense and realize its importance."