PHILADELPHIA, PA - Explorer junior guard Darnell Harris (Baltimore, MD/St. Frances) hit six first-half three pointers and finished with a career-high 32 points but Pennsylvania's (10-6, 1-1 Big 5) seniors helped the Quakers edge out a 93-92 victory over the La Salle Explorers (8-10, 0-1 Big 5) on Thursday night at Tom Gola Arena.

The Explorers built a 13-point first half lead behind Harris' hot shooting and sophomore Paul Johnson (Washington, DC/Gonzaga) who also set a career-high with 17 points. The Quakers were able to cut the lead to eight at the half, 49-4, but La Salle opened another lead of eleven points in the second frame when freshman Rodney Green (Philadelphia, PA/Prep Charter) hit a lay-up but missed the ensuing free throw to make the score 58-47 with 16:14 remaining.

Still the Quakers, behind seniors Ibby Jaaber and Mark Zoller stayed closer and eventually cashed in on an Explorer lull to take the 68-67 lead on Jaaber's three-pointer with 10:03 remaining. He would finish with a team-high 27 points.

The bucket gave Penn its first lead since they held a 15-14 advantage with 12:54 to go in the first half. From there the teams would swap the lead, seemingly on each possession, 14 more times in the half.

Penn finally took the advantage when Brian Grandieri made a short jumper and was fouled with 1:04 to play to give Penn 88-87 edge. His free throw barely drew iron and landed in teammate Zoller's hands who was promptly fouled and made both free throws.

The Explorers attempted to answer by dumping the ball into freshman Kimmani Barrett (Paterson, NJ/Paterson Catholic) who had position four feet from the basket but choose to throw it errantly to the perimeter where Penn retrieved the ball and then converted on a Jaaber jumper with the shot clock about to expire to put the Quakers in control with a five-point lead and only 14 seconds to play.

Green hit a running lay-up to finish with 22 points, the Explorers fouled and Grandieri made one of two free throws to secure the win as Johnson nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to close out scoring at 93-92.

The Explorers now focus on Atlantic 10 Conference play for the rest of the season with a Sunday afternoon contest slated for 2:00 PM at St. Bonaventure.