PHILADELPHIA – Senior Earl Pettis added 19 points in his final collegiate contest as the La Salle men’s basketball team fell 70-61 to Minnesota in its first round NIT Tournament game held at Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday evening.
The Explorers end their season at 21-13 and conclude their 12th appearance in the NIT all-time.
“I love my kids,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “They did a lot of good things this year. I think there are a lot of good teams in the NIT that could be in the NCAA, so it’s an honor to be here.”
Junior Ramon Galloway added 13 points to break the 1,000 career point mark, including his time playing for South Carolina. Freshman Jerrell Wright was also in double figures with 12 points and seven rebounds.
“I thought Jerrell Wright played his butt off,” Giannini said. ”I thought Earl Pettis played really hard. But we just had some bad performances and it was the wrong time to do it .”
For the Golden Gophers (20-14), Rodney Williams added a game-high and career-high tying 21 points, including 17 in the first half.
Minnesota advances to the NIT second round and will visit Miami.
The Explorers got off to a strong start on the evening. Galloway buried a trey and then Pettis added a basket of his own to give the Explorers a 10-5 advantage by the first media timeout.
Wright came up with two big offensive rebounds and after a media timeout, the Explorers extended their lead to 17-13 after a short jumper by Wright.
A Galloway dunk on a fastbreak and another Wright basket capped La Salle’s 6-0 run and gave the Explorers their largest lead of the half at 21-13 with 9:28 left before the break.
The rest of the first half was back and forth.
The Gophers rallied to tie the contest at 30-all at 3:53 after Andre Hollins stole the ball and took it to the hoop.
La Salle answered with 7-2 run capped with a three by freshman D.J. Peterson, a Minnesota native, to go up 37-32.
But Williams completed a three-point play and Minnesota had a 38-37 lead with 1:36 on the clock and the Gophers took a 40-37 lead at the break.
La Salle came out slow in the second half, but got a spark after two straight baskets in transition by Pettis and then Wright to go ahead 45-44 with 15:35 on the clock.
On the dunk, Wright was pushed hard by Minnesota’s Elliot Eliason, who was called for the intentional foul. It was a chance for La Salle to extend its lead, but Wright missed both free throws and the Explorers couldn’t convert on their possession after the shots.
After Minnesota tied the game at 50-all with a layup, sophomore Same Mills and Hollins traded a pair of threes for their respective teams to keep the game tied at 53-all at the midpoint of the second half.
The contest was tied again at 55 with 9:04 on the clock, but turnovers and defensive lapses by the Explorers helped the Golden Gophers close out the contest on a 15-6 run.
Galloway hit a pair of free throws at the 2:57 mark to get La Salle within three at 62-59, but the Blue and Gold couldn’t get any closer for the remainder of the game.
La Salle would be plagued by 18 turnovers in total on the contest and shot .471 for the game.
“To be in the NIT is great,” Giannini said. “It shows that you’re close to the NCAA Tournament. It’s a step for our program… Hopefully we learn from this and get better and take another step next year.”
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