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PHILADELPHIA – Senior Ramon Galloway dazzled the La Salle faithful one last time on Wednesday evening at Tom Gola Arena, leading all scorers with 29 points (11-17 FG, 4-7 3-PT, 3-3 FT) in an 84-70 victory over George Washington on Senior Night.

With the victory, La Salle (21-7, 11-4 A-10) has clinched a bye in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Explorers will play in the quarterfinal round on Friday, March 15 at a time to be determined.

In addition, La Salle will play at Saint Louis on Saturday with a chance to win the Atlantic 10 regular season title and the top seed in the A-10 Tournament. If La Salle beats SLU and Temple beats VCU on Sunday, the Explorers would be the #1 seed in Brooklyn. 

The 11 Atlantic 10 wins set a new program record, beating the 10 won by the 2005-06 squad.

In a career full of highlight-reel plays, Galloway's climax at Gola's friendly confines came on a slash to the basket from the top of the key capped by a delicious finish at the bucket through a foul call. Head Coach Dr. John Giannini called timeout shortly after his leader knocked down the free throw, and Galloway was lauded by an ovation of standing supporters.

Rather than soak in another masterful performance, the A-10 and Big 5 Player of the Year candidate deflected praise to his teammates and maintains the squad's future as his priority.

“I just felt like it was another game,” Galloway said postgame, when asked about what Senior Day meant to his career. “It was just another step that we had to accomplish to get to our goal. The energy was there and the emotion was there. For the most part, I just wanted to win the game.”

La Salle made 10 of its first 12 shots, including seven triples to build a 29-16 lead in the early going. Offense has been easy to come by of late for the Explorers, who shot 61 percent (28-46) from the field, the second time this season the Explorers have eclipsed 60 percent from the field.

“It's so hard to stop us,” Tyreek Duren said. “If they stop me, they have to worry about stopping Ramon, Sam, and so on. I think that's so hard to guard for people. It creates so many mismatches because all our guards can shoot. It's just hard for teams to match up with us.”

The most crooked number on Wednesday was La Salle's dominance from long range. The Colonials (12-16, 6-9 A-10) knocked down only one trey on eight attempts while they Blue and Gold banged out 12-22 of its triples. La Salle came into the game ranked first in the A-10 in three point field goal percentage defense and fourth in three point field goal percentage.

The Explorers stretched their lead to as many as 20 (78-58) and never trailed after being down 6-3 in the game's opening minutes.

Duren added 19  points and a game-high seven assists while Jerrell Wright chipped in with 16 points and seven boards. 

Is there talk of the NCAA Tournament with a potential berth so closely within reach?

“I think so, especially with the quality wins we have,” Duren said  “I think Saturday we have a chance to get another one. I think if we get that one it will lock us in there. Like we always say, we just try to take it one game at a time.”

“There's no sitting back or reflecting,” Giannini said. “We talk about it [NCAA Tournament] year-round but the only thing we talk about more than that is our next game.”

Could Galloway have ever imagined himself as the leader of a potential NCAA Tournament team?

“I never pictured this storyline or anything,” Galloway noted. “I'm glad that it's happened like this though. I wouldn't change it for anything.”

Galloway and his team travel to A-10 leader Saint Louis for its regular season finale on Saturday at 1:30 PM. The game will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.