by Chuck Booth '17
 
PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle men's basketball fell to one of the nation's hottest teams on Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena, losing to VCU, 88-70.
 
"We lost to a truly fantastic team that is headed to the NCAA Tournament and is undefeated in the Atlantic 10 and they showed us why today," head coach Dr. John Giannini said. "They are deep and they shoot it great. I think it was a combination of our turnovers and them shooting the ball tremendously."
 
The leading scorer for the Explorers was junior Amar Stukes with a career high of 17. His previous career high was 13 in a win over #25 Dayton earlier in the season. Four more La Salle players reached double figured, including Cleon Roberts (14 points, six assists) and Rohan Brown (12 points, four rebounds).
 
Senior Melvin Johnson from VCU (17-5, 9-0 A-10) led all scorers with 30. He shot 10-for-19 from the field.
 
La Salle got within four points with seven minutes left in the first half but VCU pulled away with a 12-0 run over the next three minutes. After that, the Rams never looked back.
 
The win was VCU's 12th straight, which ranks behind only Stony Brook for the nation's longest winning streak. VCU leads the Atlantic 10 with a 9-0 record.
 
"If you look at our bench and see the full team that we're about to have, this is a blip," Giannini said. "This experience will help us big time [next season]."
 
La Salle tried to get back into the game with a 10-0 run early in the second half but VCU just had too much in the arsenal for La Salle's short bench.
 
Up next for La Salle (5-15, 1-8 A-10) is a home game against Rhode Island on Saturday at 8 PM. The game will be produced by the American Sports Network and broadcast locally on The Comcast Network.