Washington, DC - The La Salle University Explorers (9-12, 4-4 A-10) earned their first win all-time at the Smith Center as they breezed by the George Washington University Colonials (5-13, 1-7 A-10), 80-58, on Wednesday evening.
La Salle was led by senior Darnell Harris (Baltimore, MD/ St. Frances Academy) who had 20 points and six rebounds. The Colonials had a team-high 14 points from Damian Hollis who did all of his scoring in the second half.
The Explorers got on the board first and never gave up the lead as they sprinted out to an 11-0 lead in the first five minutes. Harris hit his first of six three's just one minute into play and led an Explorer offensive that shot 60% from field goal range for the game.
La Salle continued to attack, and went on a 13-0 run later in the first half to continue a crushing offensive and go up 29-7.
Senior Sherman Diaz (Diego Martin, Trinidad & Tobago/Life Center) hit a three as the clock ticked down to send the Explorers into the locker room up 38-20.
La Salle junior Paul Johnson (Washington, D.C./Gonzaga) had all of his 13 points in the second half. He also contributed five rebounds - four of which came on the offensive glass.
The Colonials got as close as 13 points in the second half, 52-39, when Rob Diggs completed a three-point play with 12:01 to play but Kimmani Barrett (Paterson, NJ/ Paterson Catholic) took over by scoring all of his 12 points in the final 10:15 of play to stretch the lead back to a comfortable margin.
George Washington went 80% from the arc in the second half after going 0-10 in the first half.
The win halted an 0-11 slide for the Explorers at Smith Center lasting the duration of their tenure in the A-10.
In the game Harris passed Kareem Townes and is now ranked #2 on La Salle's all-time list for three-pointers made with 301 triples. He is now eight made three-pointers away from passing Donnie Carr for the all-time lead.
Next up for La Salle is Duquesne on Saturday, February 9th at 2:00 PM at Tom Gola Arena.
