La Salle runs away from Duquesne

There are times when being first is good and times when it's not.

La Salle did not want to be the first team to drop a home conference game to Duquesne this season, and the Explorers made sure that didn't happen Wednesday night.

Sandwiching the first half of their game against Duquesne with 12-0 runs at the beginning and end, La Salle won at home for the fifth time in six games, easily beating Duquesne, 87-72, at Tom Gola Arena.

"We don't tell them that - that would be nuts," La Salle coach John Giannini said jokingly. " 'Hey, guys, they haven't won a game on the road all year.' They are a good team and we didn't prepare for them lightly."

In a game that was never really competitive, Jordan Price led four Explorers in double figures with 19 points. Jerrell Wright scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, which moved him into La Salle's top 10 in career boards with 797. Cleon Roberts finished with 13 points and Khalid Lewis came off the bench for 13.

The Explorers (15-11, 7-6 Atlantic Ten) couldn't have asked for a better beginning to the game, knocking down six consecutive three-pointers at the start on the way to a 15-2 advantage a little more than three minutes in.

The Dukes (8-16, 3-10), who lost their previous six conference road games by an average of 19.2 points, cut into that lead later in the half, whittling it to 31-27. But the Explorers closed out the half with 12 more unanswered points to lead by 43-27 at halftime.

"We knew that they were going to come out in a zone and that's what we practiced against," Price said. "We knew what shots we were going to get and we knocked them down today."

La Salle, which led by 26 points early in the second half, connected on 13 of 30 three-pointers.

Micah Mason led Duquesne with 16 points.

The Explorers' next game will be Sunday at St. Louis (10-16, 2-11).