photo by Linwood Ferguson

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Junior Cleon Roberts had a career-high 30 points and classmate Jordan Price added 25 but an undermanned Explorer club was unable to beat Florida Gulf Coast, falling 86-77, at Alico Arena on New Year's Eve. La Salle played with just six scholarship players as Rohan Brown (knee), Dusan Majstorovic (sick) and Yevgen Sakhniuk (sick) all missed the game.

Roberts, a Miami native playing in a homecoming game of sorts, bested his previous career-high of 20. He shot 10-for-14 from the field and added five rebounds. Price led the team with eight boards to go along with his 25 points.

"I thought we played well in the second half," head coach Dr. John Giannini said. "We scored a lot of points and shot a good percentage. We are just having a hard time defensively, especially guarding the ball."

Florida Gulf Coast raced to an 8-0 start in the first three minutes of play. The Explorers responded with a 9-4 run, all keyed by Roberts, who scored all nine points to make it 12-9 with 12:50 before halftime. La Salle would get no closer in the first stanza as the Eagles extended the lead to as many as 19 late in the first half.
 
Roberts had 14 points in the first half on 5-for-7 shooting.
 
In the second half, La Salle closed the gap to 67-61 with 5:51 to play to after 8-1 run thanks to five points from sophomore Johnnie Shuler. But the Eagles had the answer, scoring the next seven points to put the game out of reach.
 
Julian Debose led FGCU (7-7) with 20 points, while Antravious Simmons added 17 and 10 rebounds.

"We played hard and played well offensively and we have to keep getting better," Giannini said. "We're obviously undermanned but we're going to try to use that to our advantage. 

The Explorers (4-6) are back at Tom Gola Arena for the first time in a month on Sunday to host Massachusetts in the A-10 opener. Tip-off is set for 5 PM and the game will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network. 

NOTES: Price needs 59 points to reach 1,000 for his career…This was the first meeting between the two schools…La Salle made 10 three's and lost for just the fourth time in the past 28 games when connecting on at least nine from long distance.