La Salle smothers George Washington in 63-50 victory

The La Salle Explorers put a defensive blanket over George Washington and didn't remove it until the game was over, holding the Colonials almost 20 points below their season average to score a decisive 63-50 victory Saturday at Tom Gola Arena.

In ending a two-game losing streak, the Explorers halted the Colonials' six-game winning streak by holding them to just 39.5 percent shooting from the floor. La Salle, which never trailed, also forced the Colonials into an uncharacteristic 20 turnovers. They had averaged less than 10 a game.

"They just did a great job," La Salle coach John Giannini said of his players. "There were certain things we wanted to accomplish against them, certain things we didn't want them to accomplish. That's what you want from your guys every game. It's just that today they did it exactly perfectly."

Jordan Price led the Explorers (9-7, 1-2 Atlantic Ten) with 20 points. La Salle also received 15 points and six rebounds from Cleon Roberts before he fouled out in the second half. Center Steve Zack finished with a game-high 11 rebounds, six points, and a pair of blocks.

Reserve GW forward Yuta Watanabe (12 points) was the only Colonial to reach double figures.

La Salle couldn't have asked for a better start.

It jumped out to a 19-2 lead as the combination of its defense and sloppy play by the Colonials (12-4, 2-1) kept George Washington off balance for the better part of the first half. The Colonials' two points during that start were, in fact, the result of Zack errantly tipping in a missed George Washington shot.

Despite their large advantage, the Explorers never relented.

"Basically, we can't be relaxed with a lead like that. They have come back from deficits like that and won games. So we kept playing hard to protect that lead."

The Colonials finally scored their first field goal when John Kopriva converted a layup with 7 minutes, 46 seconds to play in the half. From there they played better, making their final seven shots from the field to trail by 33-19 at the half.

The Colonials did cut the lead to 50-39 with 8:12 to play. They would get no closer than that the rest of the game.