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PHILADELPHIA - La Salle reached the 20-win mark and finished the regular season tied for fifth in the Atlantic 10 with a 71-61 victory over St. Bonaventure on Saturday at Tom Gola Arena. Sophomore Tyreek Duren led all scorers with 21 points, while Earl Pettis enjoyed senior day with 16 points, including the 1000th of his career, for La Salle. 

“We beat an outstanding team and an outstanding player in Andrew Nicholson,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “The key to the game was that we really played hard defensively. Our pressure made them a little bit uncomfortable and we had a great effort from a lot of people. I'm thrilled to get a win against a strong opponent.”

La Salle has earned the #7 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and will host #10 Richmond on Tuesday at Tom Gola Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 PM. Tickets to Tuesday's game are available by calling 215-951-1999 or emailing tickets@lasalle.edu. Tickets are $15 for chair backs and $10 for all other seats.

The Explorers (20-11, 9-7 A-10) finished the regular season with 20 wins, the first time LU has reached that mark since the 1991-92 team.

“It's a big deal,” Giannini said. “A team that wins 19 games is a good team. A 20-win team qualifies you as a very good team.”

“I think it's real important for our seniors to be here for that accomplishment,” Duren said. “We took a big step in the right direction.”

“Nobody really gave us a chance to win 20 games,” Pettis said. “It's a real big accomplishment.”

Pettis and Duren, a pair of Neumann-Goretti graduates, sparked the Explorers to the victory. Pettis shot 7-for-12 and his three-pointer early in the second half gave him 1,000 points between his career at Rutgers and La Salle.

“I wasn't really thinking about that,” Pettis said. “I was just trying to get the win and get the home game [in the tournament].”

Duren scored 13 of the Explorers' final 14 points beginning with a lay-up with 5:41 to play that gave the hosts a 59-50 lead. The sophomore kept the Bonnies at bay by adding six foul shots as the visitors would get no closer than five points the rest of the way. He shot 7-for-11 from the field and had four assists.

Forwards Jerrell Wright and Devon White each had 10 points. White had six boards as well.

SBU senior Andrew Nicholson had 19 points and eight rebounds but was held in check for most of the first half. The A-10 Player of the Year candidate had six points on 2-for-6 shooting in the first half as La Salle pressured the Bonnies guards to keep the ball out of Nicholson's hands. He had been averaging nearly 30 ppg. in his past four contests.

“We really got after the guards, because someone has to pass him the ball,” Giannini said. “You have to make it really hard on them to pass him the ball.”

“That being said, he still had a great stat line. This guy is really, really special.”

The Explorers led by as many as 16 in the first half at 36-20 with 3:54 before intermission. St. Bonaventure cut the lead to 10 before Pettis' lay-up at the halftime buzzer was goal-tended to put the hosts up 38-26.

SBU (17-11, 10-6 A-10) quickly cut into the lead with a 6-0 run to start the half and trailed by two points at 51-49 with 9:41 to play. A dunk by White and a Pettis lay-up pushed the lead back to six and the visitors would get no closer.
Demetrius Conger had 18 points and nine boards for St. Bonaventure.

In addition to Pettis, senior Matt Sheehan and manager Courtney Charles were honored in a pre-game ceremony. Sheehan also earned his first start.

Tuesday's game will not be televised but fans can watch the game through the GoExplorers.com live video feed. Live statistics and tweets will also be available.

The Explorers (20-11 overall) finished in a tie for fifth with Saint Joseph's, Dayton, and Massachusetts with 9-7 A-10 records. The Hawks received the five-seed based on a 3-1 record between the four schools. Dayton was 2-1 to earn the six-seed, La Salle was 2-2 to pick up the seventh seed, and UMass was 1-4 for the eight seed.

The winner of the La Salle-Richmond game will face #2-seeded Saint Louis on Friday at 6:30 PM at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall. Tickets are available for Boardwalk Hall by visiting ticketmaster.com.