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PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle men's basketball team continued its winning streak at Tom Gola Arena by defeating Hartford, 73-55, on Saturday evening, for their ninth straight victory at home.

The win adds on to La Salle's record-setting string of victories at Gola, dating back to last season. La Salle broke the record of seven, set during the 2006-07 season, during its last contest against Boston University and has won nine straight in the building.

“It's a big deal,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said of his team's success at home this season. “We have not won at home [in the past] but this group is different. This group plays well at home. There's no other way to have a good program; you have to win at home.”

Junior Ramon Galloway and sophomore Tyreek Duren each added a game-leading 19 points.  Freshman Jerrell Wright added a game-high 11 rebounds.  

“I'm just playing my game,” Duren said of adding 19 and 23 points in La Salle's last two contests. “I tried to make sure I pushed the ball the last few games and as a result a lot of things started opening up.”

Mark Nwakamma added nine points for Hartford, which shot .435 from the field.  The Explorers hit their shots at a .509 clip.

At 10-0 this season when scoring at least 70 points, La Salle now sits at 10-4 and has won eight of its last nine games.

Hartford drops to 0-12 on the season.

“I thought our effort was good for the most part,” Giannini said. “We played, with a few exceptions, hard the whole game and [Hartford] really executed and did good things offensively.”

Both teams came out a little slow and the contest was close until La Salle was able to hold Hartford scoreless from the field for nearly nine minutes as the first half wound down.  The Explorers worked to a 30-19 lead with 2:50 to play before the break.

Hartford broke its scoring drought with a pair of free throws and then added a field goal with 54 seconds to play in the first. The Explorers took a 33-21 lead into the break.

The Hawks chipped away at their deficit in the first few minutes of the second half, getting as close 33-25 with 18:46 remaining in the game.

However, Duren took control of the scoring for the Explorers, adding 14 points in the second half.  La Salle led by as many as 22, at 57-53 with 10:23 remaining after a trey by Duren.

Both team struggled from the foul line, with La Salle going 6-for-15 from the charity stripe and Hartford going 9-for-17.

The Explorers end December at 6-1, their best December record since the 1988-89 season.

La Salle will open Atlantic 10 play in 2012 with a contest against Xavier on January 4 at 6:00 p.m.  The game will be broadcast locally on The Comcast Network.