La Salle plays it hot and cold

The loopy season La Salle has had is perfectly illustrated this way: The Explorers have played 14 games decided by five or fewer points, and they are 7-7 in those games, including 4-4 in the Atlantic Ten Conference.

La Salle coach John Giannini nailed it when he interpreted those numbers this week.

"It says two things about our team," he said. "First, we have the talent to compete with everybody, and, secondly, we're just flawed enough to not be able to put games away."

The Explorers (12-14, 4-7) continued their confounding ways in their last two games. They won at St. Louis, a tough place to play, then were blown out at St. Bonaventure in one of their worst performances of the season. Giannini suspects the Explorers were run down from a tough travel week.

"In the course of a long season, sometimes the schedule is unavoidably going to hurt you," he said. "I think maybe going to St. Louis Tuesday, playing Wednesday, coming back early Thursday morning, and turning around for the long trip to St. Bonaventure Friday certainly was a challenge, and it may have taken something out of us."

La Salle hasn't played since Saturday, so the Explorers have had plenty of time to recover.

Pivotal game. La Salle desperately needs a win over George Washington (13-12, 6-5) Saturday at Tom Gola Arena to keep alive its slim chances of hosting a first-round A-10 tourney game. The Explorers lost by five at GW on Jan. 5.

Free throws. Junior guard Earl Pettis is on a streak of 29 consecutive free throws made, second longest in the country. He last missed a free throw on Dec. 29. . . . La Salle was held to a season low in points (61) and shooting percentage (32.2) in the loss to St. Bonaventure. . . . Aaric Murray is second on La Salle's all-time list with 128 blocked shots. The 6-foot-10 sophomore is averaging 17.0 points and 6.9 rebounds in the last seven games.