Price scores 30 as La Salle beats St. Francis (N.Y.)

La Salle's Jordan Price and Jerrell Wright were alone in the open court. Instead of finishing, Wright handed the ball off to his streaking teammate for an easy layup.

Running back down the floor, Price rubbed the bottom of his right hand against the top of his left, indicating payback for an earlier alley-oop pass he gave to Wright for a slam.

By the end of the night, both players paid dividends for La Salle, igniting a struggling Explorers offense in a 73-60 win over St. Francis (N.Y.) Tuesday at Tom Gola Arena.

La Salle came into the game with the ninth-worst shooting percentage in the nation (.333). Price and Wright combined for 49 points and La Salle (4-0) shot 46.6 percent.

For the second straight game, Price established a new career high. The redshirt sophomore, in his first year at La Salle after transferring from Auburn, had a game-high 30 points.

After the game, Price, who leads La Salle with 19.3 points per game, indicated he wanted to pass the ball back to Wright on the fastbreak. La Salle coach John Giannini was more impressed by Price's all-around game than his scoring. Price finished with seven assists and six rebounds and helped hold St. Francis (0-4) to 35.3 percent shooting.

"Tonight he was really an outstanding player because he pretty much did everything well," Giannini said. "I told him, ironically, there are nights he's going to have 30 and there are nights he's going to have six. I want to know if he's more than a scorer and if he's going to do more than score to help his team win."

Price did plenty to reward Wright for his unselfishness. Five of Price's assists set up Wright, who finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.

Price made 10 of 17 shots and scored 19 points in the second half. He also made four three-pointers and all six of his free throws.

"I'm really not looking for that," Price said. "I'm just looking to help my team win. If scoring is what I need to do to help my team win, then I'll do it."