La Salle wins at Gola again

IN THIS season of their discontent, the La Salle Explorers' sanctuary has been Gola Arena. After beating Saint Louis there Wednesday night, 76-68, they are 7-7 at home. The rest of the story is their being 1-13 elsewhere - 0-2 neutral, 1-11 road, with that win against Rowan. A 58-41 lead with nine minutes left got down to 73-68 with 50 seconds remaining, but the Explorers held on.

La Salle (8-20, 4-13 Atlantic 10) has now won three of five after losing 10 straight. If only next week's A-10 Tournament were played at 20th and Olney instead of Brooklyn. The Barclays Center and Gola both have 10-foot baskets and regulation courts. The similarities end there.

The tournament is for later. In the now, La Salle is "hot."

Graduate student Rohan Brown and senior O.J. Lewis, the last players left from the 2013 Sweet 16 team, were in the starting lineup for the season's final home game. Lewis, who had scored one point all season in 16 minutes, opened the scoring for La Salle with a three, an omen for a team that would make 11 threes in the game's first 31 minutes, six by scorching Cleon Roberts (23 points). Brown, who graduated with a communications degree and is going for his master's in business administration, has always been a high-effort player.

The Explorers got another terrific floor game from point guard Amar Stukes (six points, career-high nine assists, seven rebounds, two steals). Johnnie Shuler, a starter all season, came off the bench on Senior Night to get 15 points. Jordan Price, the leading scorer in the Big 5, had 14 and Tony Washington 11 for La Salle, which led for the game's final 26 minutes, shot 61.5 percent in the second half and 50 percent for the game.

"I didn't know I hit that many," said Roberts, who shot 8-for-12 overall and 6-for-9 from three. "Coach tells me not to hesitate, just shoot the ball. I just shot it with confidence."

Making all those threes gave La Salle separation. And its defense was more than good enough until Saint Louis made a desperate late run.

"The thing we always believe in is try to hold people in the 30s, play great defense and don't turn it over," La Salle coach John Giannini said.

Saint Louis shot only 37.5 percent, but did make nine threes and missed only one of 18 free throws. La Salle did commit nine of its 14 turnovers in the second half.

La Salle is certainly playing better. The point guard play has been excellent lately. In addition to running the show, Stukes has made 13 of his last 27 threes.

"I've always thought so highly of (Stukes)," Giannini said. "My first guard recruit was Rodney Green. He was a stellar player. We went right from Rodney to Tyreek Duren and he was a stellar player. I really believed that Amar was the next in line for that Philly guard. If anything, he's probably too self-critical and too unselfish to the point where it impeded some of his development. Now, he's more aggressive, he's more confident, and this is just the way I always pictured him playing."

Saint Louis (10-19, 5-12) had been in town since Saturday, probably long enough to register to vote in the Pennsylvania presidential primary. The Billikens had beaten Saint Joseph's nine straight times until losing to the Hawks on Sunday. They had beaten La Salle five straight. Well, coach Jim Crews still has the memory of 40 years ago when, as a senior, he was part of the last unbeaten team, the 32-0 Indiana Hoosiers who were a cool 108-12 during his four years there.

La Salle has Gola Arena, but not again until November.

@DickJerardi