Feb. 19, 2011

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PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle men's basketball team fought back from an 18-point deficit in the second half to cut the George Washington lead to one with 26 seconds left only to come up short, 82-80, on Saturday night in a televised game at Tom Gola Arena.

"When our backs are to the wall we're tremendous," La Salle head coach Dr. John Giannini said. "But good teams don't wait until their backs are to the wall."

Senior Jerrell Williams led all scorers with 27 points, while freshman Tyreek Duren had 15 points and eight assists. Sophomore Aaric Murray added 11.

Out of sync against the Colonials until the last five minutes, the Explorers made their run. A pair of free throws by Murray cut the lead to ten with nearly seven minutes remaining and after a Williams fastbreak dunk and another good free throw from Murray further cut the lead to nine.

A lay-up by freshman Sam Mills cut George Washington's lead to eight with 3:28 left. The Explorers continued their dismantling of the Colonial's lead after Earl Pettis made two free throws, stole George Washington's inbounds pass and dished the ball to Murray for a two-handed dunk to bring the Explorers within four with 1:36 left.

Three free throws extended the lead to seven for the Colonials, but freshman Cole Stefan drained a three pointer to make the score 78-74.

With the Colonials in their sights Duren sank a three of his own and the Colonials stepped out of bounds attempting to inbound the ball on their next play, giving La Salle possession with the score at 78-77 and 54 seconds left to play.

After a missed shot, a foul by Mills and two good free throws by George Washington's Bynes meant the Explorers needed three points to tie.

Murray floated in a lay-up at the 26 second mark cut the deficit back to one before GW's Tony Taylor missed both of his free throws with six seconds left to keep the Explorers within in three.

With three seconds left Mills was fouled and made his first free throw attempt, intentionally missing the second to fight for the rebound but the Colonials knocked the ball out of bounds.

Murray attempted a jumper at the buzzer but just missed, leaving the final score at 82-80 in favor of the Colonials.

"We did fight hard," Giannini said. "This is what makes this so agonizing. We do have the talent to win."

"Because we got an 18 point lead the second half [we won]. That was the only difference," GW head coach Karl Hobbs said. "If it had been a 16 point lead I'm not sure that would have been the same outcome."

Taylor and Nemanja Mikic led the Colonials (14-12, 7-5 A-10) with 17 points. Taylor also dished 11 assists.

The game was the 15th this season decided by five points or less for La Salle, which is second in the nation.

The Explorers (12-15, 4-8 A-10) will face Atlantic 10 conference leader, Xavier, Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on The Comcast Network.