Philadelphia, PA-The La Salle University men's basketball team tantalized their fans with thoughts of an upset for nearly thirty minutes, but ultimately fell to conference bully George Washington, 84-66, after a gritty performance at Tom Gola Arena.

 

The Explorers (5-10) trailed by just two, 47-45, after junior Steven Smith (Philadelphia, PA/Northeast) stepped behind a screen to bury a deep three in the opening minutes of the second half.  After three-point play from Colonial forward Omar Williams, Darnell Harris (Baltimore, MD/St. Francis) answered with a three of his own to make the score 50-48. 

 

The Colonials ran away from that point, but had received quite a scare from the inspired Explorers. 

 

The game swung back and forth in the first half, with George Washington slowly building leads and La Salle stubbornly chipping away at them.  The Colonials went on an 11-0 surge midway through the period to lead, 30-17, but the Explorers answered with a pair of threes from guard Jermaine Thomas (Frederick, MD/Thomas Johnson).

 

The gap closed to 35-34 after a transition three from Smith, but George Washington then scored the final four points to lead, 39-34, at halftime.      

 

Darnell Harris finished with a career high 21 points on 8-15 shooting including five three-pointers.  Smith overcame a slow start to finish with 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block in 39 minutes of action.  Thomas added 15 markers on 5-11 shooting, and Tabby Cunningham (Philadelphia, PA/St. John Neuman) tallied nine points, six assists, and four steals.

 

With the win, George Washington improves to 12-3 overall and 4-1 in the Atlantic 10.