by Chuck Booth '17

PHILADELPHIA - Junior Cleon Roberts scored a game-high 23 points to lead La Salle to a 76-68 victory over Saint Louis on Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena. Seniors Rohan Brown and O.J. Lewis were recognized in a pre-game ceremony.
 
"We beat a very good team today. They may not have a very good record, but if you watch them play against Dayton they were in position to beat one of the best teams in the country there." head coach Dr. John Giannini said. "You would have been tremendously impressed with their defense in that game. Against Saint Joseph's, they were right with them until the final three minutes. They have been playing some of the best teams in the country to the wire."
 
The seniors are very meaningful to the team and it showed in Roberts post game-comments.

"(OJ) is a big part of the team," Roberts said. "He may not play much during the games, but in practice he is helping us get better. Off the court he is like a brother to us and he really looks out for his teammates."
 
Roberts paced the offense with 23 points and a career high six threes but he was helped by three other Explorers scoring double digits. The Miami, Fla. native added five rebounds and did not committ a turnover in 40 minutes. 
 
 Sophomore Amar Stukes chipped in a career-high nine assists and added six points and seven rebounds.In his past two games, he's averaged 9.0 ppg., 7.5 apg. and 6.5 rpg. 
 
"I always thought so highly of him. My first guard recruit was Rodney Green and he was a stellar player. We went right from Rodney to Tyreek Duren and he was a stellar player. I really thought and believed Amar was the next in line for the next Philly guard." Giannini added, "If anything he is too self-critical and too unselfish to the point where it impeded some of his development. He is now more aggressive and more confident and this is how I always pictured him playing."
 
Joining Roberts in double figures were Jordan Price (15 points, 4 rebounds), Johnnie Shuler (15 points, 4 assists), and Tony Washington (11 points, 6 rebounds).
 
St Louis [10-19, 5-12 A-10] was led by Davell Roby (16 points, 2 assists) and Jermaine Bishop (15 points, 4 assists).
 
La Salle used a 10-2 run midway through the second half to take control of the game.
 
The Billikens attempted to get back into the game and closed the gap to 5 points with 50 seconds to play but couldn't complete the comeback as La Salle's foul shooting iced the game.
 
The Explorers [8-20, 4-13 A-10] close out the season this Saturday at 8 pm against UMass in Amherst.