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NEW YORK, N.Y. – Junior Jerrell Wright tied a career-high with 21 points and classmate Steve Zack had his fourth straight double-double as La Salle rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat Stony Brook, 65-57, at Madison Square Garden in the opening game of the ECAC/MSG Holiday Festival.

"I'm really encouraged," head coach Dr. John Giannini said. "We won with our defense and our big guys playing well. Our guards did a better job defensively, I just know they are better offensively then they are showing right now. If we can get our guards on track offensively, we could be a much better team."
 
Wright scored 16 of his points after the break and shot 8-for-11 from the field in one of his strongest performances in a La Salle uniform.
 
"Jerrell is such a good player and has really improved since last year," head coach Dr. John Giannini. "He was tremendous."
 
"Coach told me to be aggressive," Wright said. "It feels good knowing my team can count on me to score inside. Steve and I knew we had to contribute by making our baskets."
 
Zack had 11 points and 10 boards, becoming the first Explorer to record four straight double-doubles since Steven Smith from January 26 to February 5, 2005. Zack made seven-of-eight free throws and blocked a career-high five blocks. He is averaging 12.5 ppg. and 11.3 rpg. during the four-game stretch.
 
Senior Tyrone Garland scored 12 points off the bench and Tyreek Duren added eight and three assists.
 
Defensively, La Salle (5-4) held SBU leading scorer Anthony Jackson to seven points, ten below his average and the Seawolves shot just 30% in the second half.
 
"Holding them to 30% in the second half was just tremendous," Giannini said.
 
Stony Brook (6-4) led by as many as 12 points in the first half and went to the locker  room leading by nine. But a 13-2 run by the Blue and Gold in the first five minutes of the second half tied the score at 35-35 with 14:16 to play.
 
La Salle continued to pound the ball inside to Wright, who gave La Salle its first lead  at 42-41 since midway through the first half on a lay-up with 9:48 remaining.
 
Wright and Zack scored 15 of the next 18 points for LU as the Explorer lead stretched to as many as 10 as the final minutes wound down.
 
"We need to play a full 40 minutes," Wright said. "We have to go out every day and play the way we played in the second half."
La Salle takes the next week off for finals before visiting Big 5 rival Villanova on Sunday at 2:30 PM. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1.
 
NOTES: La Salle improves to 13-2 in December since the 2011-12 season and improves to 16-9 at the MSG Holiday Festival in its ninth appearance…This was the first meeting between the two schools.