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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The La Salle men's basketball team recovered from a slow offensive start and got within one late in the contest, but fell 78-71 to Saint Louis in an Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinal matchup at Boardwalk Hall.  

The Explorers exit the tournament at 21-12 on the season, the most wins since the 1989-90 team won 30 games. 

“We got off to that bad start,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “After that I thought we outplayed them for good portions [of the game].  Getting in the hole early really hurt us, but our kids played hard.” 

Senior Earl Pettis added a game-leading 18 points for La Salle, while junior Ramon Galloway had 14 and sophomore Tyreek Duren posted 13.  Freshman Steve Zack led the Explorers with five rebounds.

"It's a tough loss," Galloway said. "We worked hard to get 21 wins for the program. To lose in the first round is disappointing, but we worked hard all year. We lose Earl but we have everybody else back so we need to get back to work tomorrow."

For Saint Louis (25-6), Mike McCall had 16 points.

Trailing 35-29 at the break and by as many as 12 in the second half, La Salle steadily worked its way back into the contest.

Zack hit a pair of free throws to cut La Salle's deficit to 52-43 with 9:18 on the clock.  Then the Explorers took advantage of three empty Billiken possessions as Galloway sunk a trey, Pettis hit a jumper in transition and Zack went one-for-two from the line to close the gap to 52-49 with 7:46 to play.

After Saint Louis hit two foul shots, both teams traded three's and the Billikens stayed ahead 57-52.

Back-to-back baskets by freshman Jerrell Wright got La Salle within one at 57-56 with 4:39 left on the clock.
La Salle kept the game close, but couldn't overtake Saint Louis in the final minutes.

The game ended with both teams sending each other to the line as the clock ticked down. Both teams shot well from the charity stripe, as the Explorers went 13-for-15 and Saint Louis was 19-for-22.

With their slow offensive start, the Explorers found themselves in a 14-2 hole after the first seven minutes of play.

Pettis, the A-10's Most Improved Player, broke the scoring drought with a jumper at the 12:36 mark to make the score 14-4 in Saint Louis's favor.

That basket began an 11-0 run capped by a D.J. Peterson three that got the Explorers within one at 14-13 with 9:34 left in the first.

Saint Louis moves on to face the winner of the Xavier-Dayton game in tomorrow's 3:30 PM semifinal.

La Salle will await a possible postseason selection. 

"We would love to be in the NIT," Giannini said. "I think when that bracket is announced, you see some of the best programs in the country in that.  Obviously everyone would prefer to be in the NCAA Tournament, but you're judged by the company you keep and you're going to see household names in that tournament and we would love to be among those household names and one of the better programs in the country."