HILADELPHIA - The game is called basketball for a reason. You're supposed to put the ball in the basket.

But on a night that featured the two most inappropriately nicknamed head coaches in the college game (Massachusetts' 5-foot, 10-inch gentleman "Bruiser" Flint and La Salle's plump, 54-year-old "Speedy" Morris), the name of the game didn't matter. Their two teams combined to miss shots at an epic rate.

UMass connected on just 36.4 percent, a figure that would have placed the Minutemen 12th of 12 teams in the Atlantic 10 for the season. That, coupled with 19 turnovers (against a non-pressing team that played almost exclusively zone defense), would have spelled defeat against almost any team on the schedule.

Fortunately for the Minutemen, they were given a sizable room for error by La Salle, which shot an abominable 19.3 percent. You'd have to search many a college boxscore to find a figure any lower.

The result was a 56-50 UMass victory that left none of the listless crowd of 2,551 in attendance heading home enraptured.

"It was a little sloppy at times," understated Carmelo Travieso, "but we fought it out and won."

Lari Ketner rocks the house on this jam.

To be sure, the Minutemen deserve some measure of accolades for their scrap. They rebounded with authority (enjoying a robust 55-35 advantage) and played tough defense most of the way. They did a particularly good job on freshman Donnie Carr, the nation's leading scorer. Carr did register 26 points, but shot a woeful 6-28 in the process. In the second half, he was just 1-16.

Travieso provided the first line of defense on Carr, followed inevitably by waves of help whenever the explosive freshman made a move to the basket.

"After a while he seemed to get tired," said Travieso. "His moves really slowed down."

Defense aside, La Salle (5-5, 0-1) gave the rims as rugged a testing as they could ever have received during factory inspection. The Explorers did not hit a single field goal in the final 7:39 of the first half, then outdid even that ineptitude by not connecting for the final 8:28 of the second half.

"I give UMass a lot of credit," said Mike Gizzi (2-13, 10 points). "They played some pretty good defense, but we missed some shots that we should have made."

Still, it was a game down the stretch. UMass (6-8, 1-1) needed an unexpected boost from seldom-used freshman Chris Kirkland to pull this one out. With the game tied at 43 and 7:19 remaining, Kirkland made a gorgeous diagonal swoop to the basket for a reverse layup, plus a foul. That three-point play put UMass ahead to stay. Moments later he had a key dunk on a pretty high-post pass from Tyrone Weeks.

It was Weeks who later provided the decisive basket. With UMass ahead 51-48 and 1:02 remaining, he gathered in a pass from Travieso and curled in a baseline turnaround. With the Explorers unable to connect on any shots, the game was basically decided.

Weeks led UMass with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Travieso also posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

UMass next plays Virginia Tech at the Mullins Center at 2 p.m. Sunday.

HILADELPHIA (JAN. 9) -- Carmelo Travieso was a statistical leader almost across the board for the University of Massachusetts Wednesday night. Some of the categories were flattering; others the contrary.

That he led UMass in field-goal attempts (14), three-pointers (3) and attempts (9), and minutes (40) was not much of a surprise. Leading in turnovers (5) was unusual for the usually sure-handed guard. And leading in blocks (2) and rebounds (12) was startling.

La Salle coach Speedy Morris was less than thrilled that the 6-foot, 2-inch Travieso should pull down so many boards. "He's 5-11, 116 pounds soaking wet and he gets 12 rebounds," Morris said with a tone of disgust.

PLAYING his first critical minutes of the year, freshman Chris Kirkland responded with five big points at crunch time to help UMass earn its 56-50 win. His performance drew raves from coach Bruiser Flint.

"He stepped up and played a really big role for us," said Flint. "He has the type of attitude that's going to make us a winner."

LARI Ketner's return to Philadelphia went just fine, thank you very much. Ketner's controversial history with La Salle (some claim he broke an oral commitment to attend the school -- a point he disputes) had led to much speculation that he would be treated badly.

While there were a smattering of boos from a generally listless crowd, Ketner was mostly ignored. On the court, he performed reasonably well with nine points, six rebounds and one critical block in the game's final minute.

EVEN with the win, UMass' 6-8 overall record represents the lowest overall winning percentage (42.9) of any team in the Atlantic 10. Of course, much of that has to do with the Minutemen's iron-clad non-league schedule, by far the hardest of any team in the league.

AJMAL Basit, just returned from a one-game suspension for breaking unspecified team rules, picked up a technical foul for arguing with the officials.

MASSACHUSETTS (56)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Babul            6   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  1    0
Weeks           27  6-12   0-1  5-10  1  3   12
Ketner          24   3-6   3-6   4-6  0  1    9
Clarke          28  2-12   1-2   2-7  1  4    5
Travieso        40  4-14   0-0  3-12  7  2   11
Padilla         33   0-3   2-3   1-8  4  2    2
Smith            7   1-2   0-0   1-2  0  1    2
Kirkland         8   2-3   1-3   0-0  0  3    5
Basit           11   1-1   2-2   1-3  0  3    4
Norville        16   1-2   4-6   0-1  0  3    6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 20-55 13-23 18-50 13 23   56
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.364, FT-.565. 3-Point Goals:
3-12, .250 (Clarke 0-2, Travieso 3-9, Padilla
0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 6
(Travieso 2, Ketner, Weeks, Basit, Norville).
Turnovers: 19 (Travieso 5, Clarke 3, Padilla 3,
Basit 2, Ketner 2, Kirkland, Norville, Smith,
Weeks). Steals: 3 (Ketner, Padilla, Smith).


LASALLE (50)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Gizzi           37  2-13   6-7   2-6  2  3   10
Catlin          19   0-2   2-2   0-1  0  4    2
Johnson         35   1-3   4-6   1-4  1  4    6
Carr            40  6-28 11-16   2-6  1  3   26
Smith           40   0-5   0-0   2-5  1  2    0
Landgren        17   0-4   2-2   0-1  0  3    2
Melchionni       3   1-1   0-0   1-2  0  1    2
Van Teeseling    9   1-1   0-0   2-3  0  2    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 11-57 25-33 10-28  5 22   50
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.193, FT-.758. 3-Point Goals:
3-21, .143 (Gizzi 0-6, Carr 3-11, Smith 0-2,
Landgren 0-2). Team rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 3
(Johnson 2, Landgren). Turnovers: 7 (Carr 3,
Catlin 2, Gizzi, Johnson). Steals: 8 (Smith 3,
Carr 2, Gizzi 2, Johnson).

__________________________________
Massachusetts      27   29  -   56
Lasalle            23   27  -   50
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Massachusetts 1 (Basit).  A:
2,551. Officials: Art Mcdonald, Jerry Donaghy,
Reggie Greenwood.