RICHMOND, VA- The La Salle University Explorers (7-9, 2-1 A-10) rode senior Darnell Harris' (Baltimore, MD.St. Frances) hot-shooting to a 76-67 Atlantic 10 road victory over the University of Richmond Spiders (9-9, 2-2 A-10) on Saturday afternoon at the Robins Center.
Harris led all scorers with 24 points on 9-11 shooting which included six connects from the three-point arc in seven attempts.
The Explorers withstood Spider runs throughout the game that erased first half leads of seven and 12 points and a second half advantage that grew to nine points when Rodney Green (Philadelphia, PA/Prep Charter) converted a Kimmani Barrett (Paterson, NJ/Paterson Catholic) steal into a lay-up with 13:25 to make the scorer 51-42.
La Salle led for the first eight minutes of the game until the Spiders tied it up at 16-16 with a three by Ryan Butler. A good free throw by sophomore Yves Mekongo Mbala (Elizabeth, NJ) gave the Explorers a lead they would not give up as they headed into the break up 38-31.
Richmond crawled back in the second stanza when a lay-up by Oumar Sylla put the Spiders within one (53-54). David Gonzalvez hit a pair of free throws on the next possession to give the Spiders their first lead.
Green answered with banked a lay-up at 7:26 to play to reclaim the lead. The Spiders took the lead one more time when Gaston Moliva made a lay-up but freshman Jerrell Williams (Paterson, NJ/Northfield Mount Hermon) got a pass from Green to key an 8-0 Explorer run to seal the win.
Green finished the night with 16 points and seven boards for La Salle, while sophomore Ruben Guillandeaux (Brooklyn, NY/St. Patrick's) had a dozen points of the bench after scoring only eight points in 33 minutes over the last four games.
Richmond was led by Gonzalvez, who scored 21 points and grabbed four rebounds.
The win marked the Explorers' first three-game win streak since opening the 2006-07 season 3-0.
The Explorers will next face Charlotte on Wednesday, January 23rd for a 7:00 PM start- the contest is the first of a three game Atlantic 10 homestand for La Salle.
