The men's basketball team's hopes for an NCAA Tournament berth in 2010 took a huge hit this weekend in St. Louis. The Flyers let a crucial win (and subsequent positioning within the conference standings) get away from them with a gut wrenching 68-65 double overtime loss to the St. Louis Billikens.

And while fans can let a loss like this get them down for days, Brian Gregory, his coaching staff and players don't have the luxury of dwelling on the loss. For Dayton, it's on to the next game on the schedule - Thursday night when the LaSalle Explorers come to UD Arena for a 7 p.m. tipoff.

LaSalle comes into Thursday night's contest with a mediocre 11-12 record overall and a conference record of 3-7, which is good for 10th place in the A-10.

LaSalle was picked to finish fourth in the conference in the preseason A-10 poll, but has struggled this season with a tough non-conference schedule (losses to South Carolina, Villanova, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Cornell) and a few key injuries.

The two primary injuries to the Explorers have come in recent weeks. The team announced Feb. 9 that senior guard Ruben Guillandeaux will miss the remainder of the season with a stress fracture in his right foot. Guillandeaux has only played in four games this season, but Head Coach Dr. John Giannini was hoping he could make a return to the active roster.

Then just yesterday the team announced that senior Yves Mekongo will miss as much as a month after fracturing the pinky finger on his left hand during a practice. He had surgery this past Friday to repair the fracture. This is yet another big loss for the Explorers as they enter their game with the Flyers this week. Mekongo is third on the team in scoring (11.4 ppg) and rebounding (5.5 rpg). He also recently scored his 1,000th career point.

Even with all the injuries the Explores have sustained, the Flyers will certainly have their hands full Thursday night. LaSalle still has three healthy players that can really score the basketball.

First is Rodney Green, one of the best talents in the conference. He leads LaSalle in scoring, averaging 18.1 ppg and averages just over four steals and five boards a game as well. He is the Explorers' Chris Wright. Next are Kimmani Barrett and Aaric Murray. They average 13.3 and 12.4 points per game, respectively.

So the Flyers will have plenty to deal with in what might seem like a cakewalk to the average fan. However, this should be a game that the Explorer's manage to keep close for the first 15 minutes or so until the Flyers eventually wear them down with their depth and balanced attack. No reason for Dayton not to win this game. My pick? Dayton wins another laugher at home and lets off some steam from that terrible St. Louis loss in the process.