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PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle men's basketball team remains undefeated at home this season and has won 12 straight in the building after notching an 80-66 victory over Rhode Island on Saturday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena.

Sophomore Tyreek Duren led all scorers with 21 points.  He, along with every La Salle starter, posted double-digit figures.  Senior Earl Pettis added 19, freshman Jerrell Wright had 17 and junior Ramon Galloway and sophomore Sam Mills each added 10.

“I'm thrilled that we won a hard-fought game,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said.  “We won it with defense in the second half.”

La Salle made its shots at a .566 clip from the field, while holding Rhode Island to .433 shooting and forcing the squad in 14 turnovers.

The Explorers (14-6, 3-2 A-10) held Rhode Island's Billy Baron, the team's leading scorer on the floor with 14.6 ppg to a single point.  It marked the 15th time in the last 17 games that La Salle has held the opponent's top scorer at or below his average. Mike Powell added 8 points for the Rams.

The Blue and Gold took an early lead after a pull-up jumper by Pettis capped a 6-0 run and put the Explorers ahead 12-4 with 15:29 to play in the first.

The Rams closed their deficit to one at 14-13 with 12:30 on the clock, but the Explorers responded with a 15-0 run, highlighted by Pettis' seven points during that four-minute stretch.  

However, the Explorers hadn't put the Rams away quite yet.

It would be Rhode Island's turn to go on a scoring streak.  The Rams used a 16-2 run to narrow the deficit to 32-29 with less than three minutes to play before the break.

“At end of the first half we couldn't get stops on defense and then push the ball like we wanted to,” Duren said.

A jumper by the Rams' T.J. Buchanan would tie the game at 33-all with 1:36 to play in the first.

After trading buckets, the teams went into the half tied at 35.

Duren opened the second half with a trey for the Explorers, who wouldn't trail for the remainder of the contest.

The game remained close until the Explorers gained a little room after a Wright dunk made it a 51-43 tally with just over 13 minutes to play.

Back-to-back threes from Mills and freshman D.J. Peterson put the lead firmly in the Explorers' hands, giving them a 74-62 edge with 2:48 to play.

Rhode Island falls to 3-17, 0-5 in the A-10 with the loss.

Prior to the contest, the first 750 students received Brother Ed Sheehy Bobblehead dolls. Sheehy, celebrating his 20^th season as the men's basketball team moderator, was honored as an honorary coach during the contest.  La Salle also recognized the 1986-87 team that reached the NIT Finals.

The Explorers will remain at home and face George Washington on Wednesday evening.  Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.