Jan. 21, 2009

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Rodney Green scored 20 of his career-high 26 points in the second half to lead La Salle past Penn, 79-70, on Wednesday.

Yves Mekongo Mbala added 13 and Paul Johnson had 12 for the Explorers (10-7).

Tyler Bernardini scored 23 points while Zack Rosen and Harrison Gaines added 10 apiece for the Quakers (4-9), who fell to 0-3 in the Big Five and lost for the first time at Tom Gola Arena since Dec. 7, 1999. Penn had won three straight at La Salle's on-campus arena.

La Salle led 31-17 at halftime and held a double-digit advantage for most of the second half.

Penn trailed 57-45 with 6:55 remaining before its bench was whistled for a technical foul. The Quakers then scored six straight to get within 58-51 on a 3-pointer by Rosen with 5:48 left. But they never got closer than eight the rest of the game.