La Salle victorious over Hartford

AFTER SPLITTING their first two games at home, the La Salle Explorers hit the road for the first time and bagged a win.

The Explorers, behind Tyreek Duren's 15 points, never trailed and beat Hartford, 64-51.

The damage was done in the first half with La Salle owning a 40-22 lead at the break. Jerrell Wright scored all 14 of his points in the first half and hot-shooting Ramon Galloway hit all three of his three-point shots, was 4-for-5 from the field overall, scoring 11 of his 13 points in the first 20 minutes.

"I expected a real hard game and we just got out to that first-half lead," said La Salle coach Dr. Johhn Giannini. "The second half was very evenly played.

"I was very concerned that if they were comfortable defensively we would have a hard time winning the game. We just tried to use our quickness defensively and tried to take them out of their rhythm and I thought our guys did a good job with it."

Hartford shot just 33.3 percent from its field in the first half and a slightly better 39.3 percent in the second half.

"Our quickness has bothered a lot of people," Giannini said. "If you don't have the quickness to bother them, you are in trouble."

La Salle redshirt freshman Rohan Brown, making his first trip back to his hometown, made it a successful one. The East Catholic High graduate scored 10 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked a shot.

"Rohan had a great game," the coach said of the 6-6, 220-pound Brown. "We needed a player last summer and of all the people we saw, Rohan Brown was our favorite because of his toughness.

"Our vision for him was to rebound like a big guy but to be able to pass and be a good decision maker like a guard. He's the only guy in our program like that. He brings the physical toughness of a big guy and the decision-making and low turnovers of a guard.

"He played good defense and has bought into the vision we have for him."

With Wright scoring eight points and Galloway canning a pair of threes, the Explorers (2-1) took a commanding 16-4 lead. The Hawks, who haven't beaten the Explorers in five tries, got to within four points with 11:06 left in the half. But La Salle closed out the half with a 15-4 run with Brown and Wright combining for nine of the points.

"Today was better, especially defensively," said Giannini, after his team had lost to Central Connecticut State, 81-74, on Sunday. "We played defense the way we want to. That was the biggest factor in the game."

Hartford (1-3), which is coached by former La Salle assistant and Saint Joseph's grad John Gallagher, was led by Mark Nwakamma, who had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Gallagher coached at La Salle from 1999-03, first serving under Hall of Fame nominee Speedy Morris. Also on the Hartford bench was Bill Dooley, who also was a La Salle assistant and recently was the head coach at Chestnut Hill Academy.

- Mark Perner