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Men's Basketball
La Salle shoots its way by Bonnies
Jan. 30, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The La Salle Explorers made 13 of their season-high 16 three-pointers in the first half, including seven off the hands of senior guard Darnell Harris, as it cruised to a 84-61 win over St. Bonaventure on Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena. Harris' 21 first half points came on a perfect 7-of-7 from long range, giving him 40 points over the last 40 minutes against the Bonnies after closing out the final 20 minutes of the Jan. 12th meeting with 19. Harris paced four Explorers in double figures with a game-high 23 points and puts him a tie for the A-10 lead with four 20-point efforts in conference play. The win breaks a three-game home losing streak for the Explorers (8-11, 3-3) and also extends the Bonnies road losing streak to 12, dating back to last season. St. Bonaventure's six-straight losses have all come in A-10 play as it falls to 6-13 on the season. Senior Michael Lee led the Brown and White with his sixth double-double of the season and second of the month against La Salle with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Classmate Tyler Relph finished with 13 points, four assists and tied a career-high with three steals. Freshman forward Matt Morgan came off the bench to reach double-digits for the second time in three games with 10 points. La Salle wasted little time in showing its comfort with the home rims of Tom Gola Arena, sinking nine consecutive three-pointers to open a 27-14 lead just over seven minutes in. Harris accounted for five of those trifectas, including four in a row at one point. The Bonnies climbed to within seven, 30-23, with 8:10 remaining as Lee used an inside-out game to propel a 9-3 run. Junior D'Lancy Carter knocked down a jumper to start the run and then Lee took over scoring seven consecutive points, with the last coming on a three-pointer from the right wing.
Just as it seemed St. Bonaventure might have survived the early storm, Harris struck again with his sixth three of the half starting a 15-4 run that resulted in La Salle's largest lead of the half (18), 45-27 with 2:48 left. After a dunk and pull-up jumper by Morgan capped a swift 6-0 Bona run, Harris zapped the remaining life out of the Bonnies with a fade-away, highly-contested three-pointer, his seventh of the game, as time expired to give La Salle a 50-33 lead at the break. The Explorers 50 points tied the season-high for points given up by St. Bonaventure in the first half that was accomplished by Rhode Island just four days ago. La Salle scored the first seven points of the final frame and never looked back as it held at least a 20-point edge the rest of the way. For the game, the Explorers shot 45 percent (28-62) from the floor, including a staggering 57 percent (16-28) from three. The Brown and White shot just 38 percent (24-62) from the floor and 21 percent (4-9) from long range, but did out-rebound its second straight opponent (40-37). Junior Tyler Benson added seven boards and five assists, while Carter strung together nine points to go along with seven rebounds. Philadelphia native and Franklin Learning Center graduate Malcolm Eleby passed out five assists and had two steals in front of at least 40 family and friends. St. Bonaventure now has two days to prepare for a revived Duquesne club. Saturday's 4 p.m. clash with the Dukes will be the 99th meeting between the two teams and the second in 10 days. Game Notes
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