PHILADELPHIA – Senior Ramon Galloway stole the show on Friday night, dropping 28 points (11-20 FG, 2-2 FT) in a 61-58 win over Carleton in an exhibition at Tom Gola Arena.
“I think he has a lot of heart,” head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “He played great defense and made big shots.”
Galloway made no bigger shot than his runner off the glass with thirteen seconds remaining to increase the La Salle lead to three, which proved to be the game’s final basket.
“I just wanted to keep playing and keep being aggressive,” Galloway said. “I just took my time on that shot more than any other shot in the game.”
The senior put the Explorers on his back in the game’s waning minutes, going on a personal 7-2 run to dust off the Ravens over the final four minutes and change.
Giannini was especially impressed with Galloway’s defense on Carleton’s potent scorer Philip Scrubb.
“Scrubb could play in any conference in America and he [Ramon] was a big part in holding him to twelve points,” Giannini said.
La Salle started the game up 19-7 before a 12-4 run from the visitor left the Explorers with a 23-19 advantage at the 4:45 mark. The squads exchanged baskets the remainder of the first half with La Salle heading into the locker room with a 30-28 advantage.
The Explorers inched its lead to 41-36 at the 15:30 mark in the second period before a 17-3 Carleton run over the next four and a half minutes left La Salle staring at 53-44 deficit with under 10 minutes remaining.
Ironically, the Blue and Gold responded with a 17-5 run of their own to close out the contest on the back of the second-team All-A10 selection from a season ago.
The Explorers shot 43.6 percent (24-55) from the floor including a 6-18 (33 percent) mark from behind the arc and a 63.6 (7-11) clip from the free throw line. Conversely, the Ravens went 22-51 (43.1 percent) from the floor, notching a 5-15 (33 percent) line from three and went 9-15 (60 percent) from the charity stripe.
Jerrell Wright was La Salle’s second-leading scorer with 12 points despite being hampered by leg cramps for much of the second half. Steve Zack paced the Explorers with six boards and added six points, including big buckets on back to back possessions late in the second half. Galloway added five rebounds and three assists and a steal to his robust stat line.
Carleton’s Tyson Hinz dropped 24 points on 10-12 shooting along with 10 rebounds while Philip Scrubb added 12 (4-14 FG).
La Salle opens its regular season on Saturday, November 10 at 3 p.m. against Delaware at Tom Gola Arena.
Saturday is also La Salle’s homecoming with a party tent beginning at noon. All veterans and military personnel receive free admission to the game in honor of Veterans Day.
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