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PHILADELPHIA – Senior Earl Pettis came up big for the La Salle men's basketball team, scoring a career-high 33 points and helping send the contest into overtime with a game-tying three, but the Explorers fell, 80-79, to #22 Temple in front of a sold-out Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday evening.

After a defensive rebound by senior Devon White with 37 seconds left on the clock in the overtime period and La Salle trailing 80-79, the Explorers had a chance to take the final last shot.

With Pettis hot all night, the Explorers got the ball into his hands.  Temple's Khalif Wyatt was on Pettis and the senior got up a three from the top of the key with five seconds on the clock.

“I was just looking to be aggressive and, whatever the defense gave me, I was going to try and make the play,” said Pettis of the final shot.

The shot wouldn't go, but freshman D.J. Peterson snared a big offensive rebound and dished the ball to sophomore Sam Mills, who was waiting in the corner behind the three-point line.

That try was off as well and the Explorers walked out of Tom Gola Arena with a tough 80-79 loss.

“It was a great game,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “We were so close. I thought both of those last shots were in.

La Salle now sits at 18-10 (7-6 A-10), while Temple won its 11^th-straight game to improve to 22-5 (11-2 A-10).

Junior Ramon Galloway and sophomore Sam Mills each added 12 points in the loss.

The Explorers shot .386 on the night, while allowing Temple to shoot .466, which was still under the team's season average.

It was 11 points by Pettis in the final 2:47 of regulation that helped the Explorers go on an 11-1 run to force overtime.

Two fouls by Temple's Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson sent Pettis to the line twice, but La Salle still trailed 70-64 with 2:24 on the clock.

Pettis then committed a foul to put Temple's Ramone Moore on the line, but he only hit one-of-two.  Temple allowed La Salle to inch closer with a jumper.

Before the Temple inbounds, Moore was called for a technical with 1:34 on the clock.  Pettis sunk both free throws and then hit game-tying trey that sent Gola Arena into a frenzy.

With the score locked at 71-all both teams came up empty on their next possessions.

Then the Owls got the ball back with 33 seconds on the clock.

Temple called a timeout with 5.6 seconds on the clock, but couldn't get a shot off, leading to overtime.

“It was my fault,” said Wyatt, who had the ball in his hands for the final play. “I didn't know the time.”
 
Working back from a deficit was one of the storylines for the Blue and Gold all game.

La Salle trailed by as many as ten by the 2:35 mark of the first, but a late first-half surge cut the Explorers' deficit to 32-29 at the break.

Nearing the midpoint of the second half, the Explorers used a 9-0 run, punctuated by a trey by sophomore Tyreek Duren and two makes from the free throw line by freshman Jerrell Wright to erase an eight-point deficit and go ahead 50-49 with 11:14 on the clock.

The Explorers will travel to play Fordham on Saturday.  The contest is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. and will be televised on the YES Network.