Anyone who came to see a showdown between Rotnei Clarke and Ramon Galloway would have left Barclays Center disappointed Friday afternoon.
Clarke and Galloway, easily two of the most talented guards in the Atlantic 10, both struggled as their teams faced off the a quarterfinal matchup in the A-10 tournament.
Ultimately it was Clarke’s Bulldogs that emerged victorious as Butler downed La Salle, 69-58, advancing to face top-seeded St. Louis on Saturday afternoon.
“I thought we played well the majority of the game,” Butler head coach Brad Stevens said. “They’re a hard team to play against, hard to guard those guys because they drive the ball so well.”
Galloway, a first team All A-10 player, shot just 1-for-10 from the field, including a dismal 0-for-8 from 3-point range. Hounded all game by an all-conference defender in Roosevelt Jones, Galloway committed four turnovers, matching his point output for the game.
“[Galloway] is a really good player,” Stevens said. “Clearly we put our best defender on him and there’s a reason he was all-defensive team. You have to pay [Galloway] attention.”
Clarke was not much better, but the players around him were. The sharpshooting senior hit just two of his nine 3-point attempts but was picked up by strong play from a frontcourt of Jones, Khyle Marshall, Andrew Smith and Kameron Woods.
“I thought we had a number of contributions from a number of different guys,” Stevens said. “I thought our [forward] spot played really well.
The Butler (26-7, 11-5) bigs combined for 44 of Butler’s 68 points, including a strong 10-point, nine-rebound performance off the bench from Woods.
“[Woods] is an extra spark for us,” Clarke said. “He’s all over the boards, he makes all of the energy plays, effort plays. He’s been good on the offensive glass, getting some put-backs and and-1s for us. He’s been huge the past couple of weeks.”
La Salle (21-9, 11-5) had earned a first-round bye but the long layoff seemed to serve as more of a detriment than playing the night before was for Butler.
“In hindsight, we probably didn’t do enough this week,” La Salle coach Dr. John Giannini said. “I do think we got fatigued today. I felt like the fatigue was a big factor which is crazy because they played yesterday.”
Despite struggling shooting, Clarke’s presence on the floor for Butler did prove to be a factor. Earlier in the season when La Salle handed Butler its first conference loss of the season, Clarke was sitting out due to injury.
“I think the difference between last time and this time is that obviously having Rotnei back helped,” Stevens said.
The loss delivered a potentially fatal blow to the Explorers’ NCAA tournament hopes.
Entering the tournament, La Salle was planted firmly on the bubble and now finds itself at the mercy of not just other teams around the country, but the selection committee as well.
“Our record speaks for itself,” Giannini said. “There’s no question, if we win [against Butler], we’re in, but now we might be at the mercy of other schools. I’ll make myself crazy [watching the weekend’s games].”
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com