La Salle falls at UMass

AMHERST, Mass. - La Salle coach John Giannini said he was pretty happy with how the Explorers played in the second half against the University of Massachusetts yesterday afternoon. The first half was a completely different story.

"Our effort was fine in the second half,'' Giannini said after the Explorers dropped a 66-59 decision to UMass in front of 4,673 in an Atlantic 10 game at the Mullins Center. "We started the game as bad as we probably could.

"We really were not good in the first half. It was all mental.''

The Explorers were paced by a 30-point effort from redshirt sophomore guard Jordan Price. He was the only Explorer to score in double figures.

Jerrell Wright was held to seven points on 2-for-9 shooting.

It ended a streak of five consecutive double-figure games for the senior from Dobbins Tech.

UMass freshman guard Donte Clark scored 16 of his team-high 23 points in the first half as the Minutemen jumped out to a seven-point halftime lead and held on to end the Explorers' three-game winning streak. The Minutemen (14-9, 7-3 Atlantic 10) extended their winning streak over LaSalle (13-10, 5-5) to four games, and it was UMass' fourth consecutive win.

Clark, who hadn't scored more than 10 points since Dec. 23, was perfect in the first half. He was 6-for-6 from the floor and 4-for-4 from outside to give the home team a 37-30 lead.

The Explorers had an opportunity to get back in the game early in the second half, but came out of the locker room shooting 0-for-7. UMass also started slowly, but scored four unanswered points and had a 7-2 run to open up a 44-32 lead with 14:45 left. The Explorers cut the lead to five late in the second half, but could not overtake the hosts.

"This league is an experienced, a mental, a consistency league. Everyone has good players,'' Giannini said. "If you're not focused . . . you're not going to win.''

La Salle visits VCU on Wednesday night.