March 2, 2011

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - A double-double by sophomore Aaric Murray and its second straight strong defensive effort helped La Salle hand the Fordham an 86-61 defeat, in the team's final home game of the regular season at Tom Gola Arena.

The Explorers held the Rams to season best 28.7% shooting from the field and held a 56-52 advantage on the boards. It marks the second straight game that the opponent has failed to shoot 30% against La Salle.

Murray had 20 points and 13 rebounds, while shooting 8-for-16 from the floor. Senior Jerrell Williams had 12 points and nine rebounds to become the eighth Explorer to record at least 1,000 points and 750 rebounds.

Senior Ruben Guillandeaux finished with 17 points and sophomore Devon White tied a career-high with 11 points.

Freshman Tyreek Duren's two steals put him two steals away from holding the program record for steals by a freshman.

"We played great. If they didn't play well, we had a lot to do with that early on," head coach Dr. John Giannini said. "We did a great job stopping guys who can score."

It was a three pointer by freshman freshman Cole Stefan that finally put the lead into double digits but the Explorers didn't pull away until late in the first half. The Explorers began to build their lead with six and a half minutes left, never losing their double digit lead again.

Murray led the Explorers with 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in the first half.

The Explorers went into the locker room with their largest lead of the half, a 26-point cushion at 45-21.

The Rams opened the second half with a dunk by leading scorer Chris Gaston (19 points, 17 rebounds), who quickly followed up with a layup, the only unanswered points scored by Fordham. The Rams couldn't close closer than 22 points on the Explorers despite their six treys in the second half.

"We always knew we could score but defensively we've been very inconsistent," Guillandeaux said. "We've been inconsistent with our effort and focus. These last couple of games we've been doing that and were seeing the results."

The Explorers largest lead over the Rams was 31 points in the second half, off a layup by Guillandeaux.

La Salle will play its final regular season game against Temple at the Liacouras Center on Saturday at 3 p.m. The game will count in the Big 5 standings. A win would move La Salle into second place in the City Series standings.