Jan. 28, 2012

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PITTSBURGH - Earl Pettis scored a game-high 20 points and Ramon Galloway added 15 - including a big three-point play with 1:03 left - as La Salle rallied from a nine-point second half deficit to defeat Duquesne, 71-68, at the Palumbo Center.

The win upped the Explorers' record to 16-6 overall and 5-2 in Atlantic 10 play. Duquesne, which was led by 19 points from T.J. McConnell and 16 from Sean Johnson, fell to 12-9 overall and 3-4 in the A-10.

The Dukes, who entered the game averaging 12.1 turnovers per game, turned it over 11 times in falling behind 28-27 at the half. DU trailed by nine before Eric Evans started a half-ending 13-5 run with a driving layup. Johnson - who was held without a field goal attempt for the first 16:43 - followed with a 3-pointer and layup. B.J. Monteiro gave DU a brief 27-25 lead before D.J. Peterson hit a 3-pointer with a minute left to give the Explorers their one-point halftime margin.

DU hit six of its first nine shots to build a 41-32 lead four minutes into the second half. McConnell started the surge with a layup and 3-pointer. The Dukes led 47-38 before La Salle put together a 6-0 run to cut it to three on a Tyreek Duren layup with 11:59 left.

La Salle regained the lead on a pair of Jerrell Wright free throws and upped the lead to four on a Pettis 3-pointer with 7:57 to go. The Dukes scored just one field goal - a McConnell jumper - and a pair of Datt free throws over a 5:41 span during La Salle's 17-4 run.

"We didn't play good transition defense for a stretch of the second half and they made us pay," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart.

There were four lead changes before Pettis scored on a backdoor layup to make it 62-59. Wright followed a Galloway miss with a put back and layup to put the Explorers up seven with 2:26 left.

Monteiro scored on a layup and McConnell found Jerry Jones in the left corner for a 3-pointer that made it 66-64. Sam Mills was called for a foul on the inbound pass giving Duquesne the ball down two with 1:33 left.

Jones, who scored all seven of his points in the second half, followed a Monteiro miss with an acrobatic put back to tie it before Galloway responded with a drive and free throw to make it 69-66 with just over one minute remaining.

"Galloway made a great play down the stretch," said Everhart. "He double-clutched it, brought it around-the-world and made the basket with contact."

Monteiro scored on a drive to cut it to one. DU forced a Peterson miss with 10 seconds left but the ball went out of bounds off a Duquesne player giving La Salle possession with eight seconds on the clock.

Mills was fouled on the inbounds pass and made both. Jones had a 3-pointer from the left wing blocked by Duren with two seconds left. Jones was able to gather the ball after the miss but was unable to get a second 3-point attempt to the rim as time expired.

"It came down to the last two possessions," said Johnson who was coming off a season-low one-point outing at Saint Louis. "Those are the type of stops we need to get to win games."

Duquesne heads to Ohio to face Dayton on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised in the Dayton area by WHIO-TV.

NOTES

• The La Salle win snapped a three-game Duquesne series winning streak ... there were four ties and nine lead changes ... both teams held a nine-point lead at one point.

• La Salle shot 54.8 percent in the second half and 51.9 percent for the game ... the Explorers went 9-of-10 from the foul line ... Duquesne shot 41.4 percent ... McConnell and Johnson went a combined 6-of-8 from the 3-point arc (3-of-4 each), the rest of the team was a combined 1-of-13 with the lone make coming from Jerry Jones with 1:35 left.

• Duquesne is now 8-3 at home (7-3 at Palumbo Center) this season ... sixth-year head coach Ron Everhart is 49-18 over the past five seasons at Palumbo Center.

• B.J. Monteiro finished with a career-high six assists ... his previous best was five on two occasions, the last on Dec. 31 vs. Houston Baptist.

• Duquesne finished with 17 turnovers to 18 for La Salle ... the Explorers outscored the Dukes 40-26 in the paint.