Jan. 5, 2011

Box Score

WASHINGTON, DC - Junior Earl Pettis connected on five three-pointers on his way to a career-high 21 points but La Salle fell at George Washington, 72-67, on Wednesday night from the Charles E. Smith Center. Sophomore Aaric Murray had 16 points and senior Jerrell Williams had a double-double with 10 points and 11 reobunds. He is now seven points short of 1,000 for his career.

Pettis played the best game of his Explorer career and keeping the visitors in the game with two clutch three-pointers late in the second half that sparked an 8-2 run. The spurt helped La Sale tie the game with 7:04 to play.

La Salle would tie the score again a little more than a minute later on a Williams free throw, but GW kept LU at bay the remainder of the contest. Murray's jumper with 1:13 to play gave the Blue and Gold faithful a glimmer of hope. The Colonials, however, made five of six foul shots down the stretch to seal the victory in the conference opener for both teams.

Tony Taylor had a game-high 28 points on 9-for-16 shooting while David Pellom came off the bench to add 12 points. Joseph Katuka had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds for George Washington (8-6, 1-0 A-10).

La Salle took care of the basketball, committing a season-low 12 turnovers, but were uncharacteristically out-rebounded by nine.

The Explorers (7-8, 0-1 A-10 ) host Richmond on Saturday at 4 PM in a game that will be televised locally on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.