La Salle falls to Davidson

In a symbolic gesture before La Salle hosted Davidson for the first time as a member of the Atlantic Ten on Saturday, a representative of the Explorers administration presented a basket of assorted gifts to a Davidson official.

In return, the Wildcats gave La Salle a loss.

Davidson broke open the game late, ending the Explorers' four-game home winning streak with a decisive run that concluded with La Salle on the wrong side of a 77-69 decision.

Facing a Davidson squad that was fourth in the nation in scoring offense (81.5 points per game) and had scored 95 and 92 points in wins over Duquesne and George Mason, the Explorers held a 65-64 lead after Cleon Roberts' jumper with 3 minutes, 45 seconds left, and seemed to have the Wildcats under wraps.

Wrong.

Davidson scored the next seven points and closed on a 13-5 run to put down La Salle. The run started after a stretch of eight lead changes and two ties over a span of 5:41.

Davidson (17-6, 8-4 A-10), led by guard Brian Sullivan's game-high 28 points and five assists, went ahead for good, 67-65, on Tyler Kalinoski's three-pointer with 3:30 remaining.

La Salle (14-11, 6-6), led by Jordan's Price's 22 points - 14 of which came in the first half - didn't help itself down the stretch. During the Wildcats' closing run, the Explorers mixed in some costly mistakes - a pair of turnovers and some easy buckets allowed - that contributed to the loss.

"Where we hurt ourselves seriously was in lack of communication and lack of effort going for rebounds late," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "In the last five or six minutes, they moved a lot and they screened a lot, and it's not always easy to get through them and talk.

"But when we made a mistake, man, did they make us pay. Every mistake we made they made us pay profusely."

La Salle got 15 points and five boards from Jerrell Wright. Roberts finished with 12 points, and Steve Zack added 11 points and five rebounds.

For Davidson, guard Jordan Barham added 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Kalinoski had 16 points for the Wildcats.