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PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought contest to Saint Louis, 59-51, on Saturday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena.

Freshman Jerrell Wright added a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds in the loss, which snaps the Explorers' 14-game home winning streak, dating back to last season.

For the Billikens (20-5, 8-3), Dwayne Evans had a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds.

La Salle now sits at 17-9 and 6-5 in the Atlantic 10.

“We played with a lot of heart,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said.  “We played great defense. We lost the game mostly because we had 20 turnovers. And a lot of them were really ugly.”

The Explorers trailed early on in the contest and were plagued by the seven turnovers they had committed by the midpoint of the first half.

Saint Louis used a 7-0 run during a two-minute stretch in the first half to go ahead 17-10 with 9:36 left in the first.

A trey by sophomore Sam Mills cut La Salle's deficit to 15-19 with just over eight minutes to play before the break.

The Explorers then stalled offensively, adding just one point on a Wright free throw between the third and fourth media timeouts of the half.  But the Billikens couldn't take advantage of the lapse and La Salle hung around.

Senior Earl Pettis added a trey and then a long jumper to get the Explorers within one at 24-23 with 1:20 before the break.

The Billikens would add a jumper to go ahead 26-23 at the half.

The Explorers came out strong after the break.  Wright tied the game for the Explorers at 30-all at 17:46 after fighting for a layup and completing the three-point play from the free throw line.

The game remained close and Mills added a trey to put the Explorers ahead 35-34 with 13:46 to go.

Junior Ramon Galloway stole a St. Louis inbounds pass and dished the ball to Wright, who completed the layup to put La Salle ahead 37-36 with 11:53 to play.

The Billikens (20-5, 8-3 A-10) were able to take a four-point lead at 45-41 with 7:49 on the clock, but back-to-back dunks by Wright helped tie the contest at 47-all.

However, La Salle found itself in a 52-47 hole with 3:40 to play.  Neither team would score for almost three minutes until a jumper by sophomore Tyreek Duren cut the Explorers' deficit to 49-52 with just over a minute to play.

But it was turnovers that would do the Explorers in at the end, as they committed three in the final two minutes of the contest and had to foul down the stretch.

The Billiken's defense, the stingiest in the A-10, held La Salle to its second-lowest point total on the year.

The Blue and Gold did shoot .400 from the floor, compared to Saint Louis' .361.

The Explorers wore pink sneakers and warm-up shirts to raise awareness for cancer.  Proceeds from the sale of pink ribbons during the game will benefit the Pete's Sake Cancer Respite Foundation.

At halftime, La Salle honored the inductees from this year's Hall of Athletes Class.  The inductees are Jenna Darcy '05 (cross country/track and field), Karo Isajan '07 (diving), Bob Moore '66 (swimming) and head coach Charles Torpey (cross country/track and field).

La Salle (17-9, 6-5 A-10) will now have a week off before it travels to face Massachusetts next Saturday at 6:00 p.m.