Feb. 18, 2010

Box Score

DAYTON, OH - Dayton broke a tie-game with seven minutes remaining by going on a 19-0 run over the next five minutes to beat La Salle, 68-54, on Thursday night at UD Arena. The Explorers out-hustled the host Flyers and held a 10-rebound advantage on the boards at the hostile home arena of UD, where the hosts are 31-1 over the last 32 games. Senior Rodney Green led La Salle with 16 points.

Trailing by seven with 15 minutes to play, the visitors slowly chipped their way back into the contest. Junior Steve Weingarten, who had a career-high 12 rebounds, scored five quick points and two straight jumpers by freshman Aaric Murray brought the Explorers back within two.

Freshman T.T. Carey tied it up with a layup, and after a Flyer basket, Murray's dunk knotted the score again at 49-49 with 8:33 to play. But from that point on, it was all Dayton.

The Flyers scored nine points in under two minutes and never looked back in going on the decisive 19-0 run. A jumper by Green and a three-pointer by Carey finished out the scoring in the final two minutes for La Salle.

Junior Jerrell Williams had nine points and 11 rebounds before fouling out and Murray added nine.

Marcus Johnson came off the bench to score 16 points for UD (18-7, 7-4 A-10), while Chris Wright added 12.

The Explorers were playing their second game three seniors back in Philadelphia with injuries--Ruben Guillandeaux, Kimmani Barrett and Yves Mekongo. The trio has combined for 2,839 points in their careers.

Green moved past Ralph Lewis (1981-85) and Randy Woods (1989-92) into ninth place on the all-time scoring list with 1,819 points. With five more assists, he will join Donnie Carr as the only Explorers to be in the top 10 in points and assists.

La Salle (11-14, 3-8 A-10) returns home to Tom Gola Arena on Sunday when it hosts St. Bonaventure at 4 PM. The game will be televised locally on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

The game is also a Gold Rush game so all Explorer fans are encouraged to wear gold.