PITTSBURGH - The La Salle University men's basketball team cut a 19-point, second-half deficit to three with 4:27 remaining, but was unable to get all the way back and over the top in an 82-73 loss to Davidson in the second round of the 2017 Atlantic 10 Tournament on Thursday.

Senior Jordan Price scored a team-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting in his final game as an Explorer, while junior B.J. Johnson added 19 points and sophomore Pookie Powell chipped in with 15.

Offensively, La Salle had a solid first half, shooting 52.2 percent and 7-for-10 from three-point range. Powell drained four first-half threes and had 12 points, while Price scored 11. Davidson, however, was on fire over the first 20 minutes, shooting 61.3 percent and hit nine from three-point range.

The Explorers led 25-23 in the opening stanza before the Wildcats unleashed a 26-9 run over the final eight minutes to take a 49-34 lead into halftime. Peyton Aldridge led a trio of players in double figures with 15 points.

Davidson extended the lead to 19 points on two separate occasions, with the second coming after a layup from Jack Gibbs at the 12:36 mark. But La Salle responded with a furious rally that brought the No. 8 seed right back into the ball game.

A three-pointer from Price triggered a 10-0 run that spanned just over three minutes to cut the margin to 64-57. Two free throws from Gibbs stopped the spurt, but four straight from Johnson and a fast-break layup from Powell brought the Explorers to within 66-63 with just under five minutes left.

Following a timeout, Aldridge converted on a layup to bump Davidson's lead back to five and, after a pair of opportunities for the Explorers to respond, a dunk from the Second Team All-Atlantic 10 forward nudged the Wildcats further in front.

Johnson, who scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half, drained a short jumper to put the score at 70-65, before a 6-1 run by Davidson that was comprised of six free throws pushed the margin back to double figures. 

Forced to press, junior Amar Stukes pilfered a steal and a tip-in by Johnson in transition made the score 76-71 with just under a minute left. But that is as close as it would get as Davidson earned the win and moved on to face No. 1 Dayton in the tournament quarterfinals.