La Salle 69, Virginia Commonwealth 61
RICHMOND, Va. -- Ramon Galloway scored 31 points as La Salle beat No. 19 VCU 69-61 Saturday night at the Siegel Center.
For La Salle (14-5, 4-2 Atlantic 10), it was the second straight win over a ranked opponent after beating No. 9 Butler 54-53 on Wednesday. Saturday's win marks the first time the Explorers have beaten ranked opponents in consecutive games since the 1952 NIT.
VCU (16-5, 4-2 Atlantic 10) lost its second game in a row after winning 13 straight and just its second home game of the season, last losing 53-51 to Wichita State on Nov. 13.
VCU cut the lead to one at 56-55 with 2:50 to go, but Galloway hit a pair of free throws on La Salle's next possession to push the lead back to three. Tyreek Duren hit a driving layup with 1:49 left to put his team up 60-55 give the Explorers some breathing room down the stretch.
The Explorers hit 9-of-10 free throws from there to seal the win.
Galloway's 31 points were a career-high. He was 9 of 18 from the floor and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line. Galloway hit six free throws in the final 55.7 seconds to put the game away.
Duren added 16 points for La Salle, which shot 47 percent (24-of-51) from the floor while just turning the ball over 14 times against VCU's pressure defense.
The Rams shot just 37 percent (23-of-60). Juvonte Reddic had 22 points and 10 rebounds.
VCU leading scorer Treveon Graham had 13 points but shot just 4 of 17 from the field. Troy Daniels had 11, making three of his team's four three-point baskets for the game.
The Rams erased a nine-point halftime deficit in 3:52 and eventually scored the first 17 points of the second half. Reddic hit a jumper with 14:31 left to cap off the run and make the score 42-34.
La Salle responded with a 22-7 run over the next 8:38. Galloway had 12 points in that span and hit a three with 5:53 to play to end the run and put the Explorers ahead 56-49.
La Salle led 34-25 after a first half of runs from both teams. The nine-point halftime deficit was VCU's largest of the season.
The Explorers ended the half on a 15-2 run over the final 7:57. Galloway had nine points in the spurt and led La Salle with 11 points at the break.
That came after VCU went on a 12-2 run over a span of 3:32 to take a 23-19 lead. Reddic had 14 points and eight rebounds in the first half, but he did not score in the final 9:33 of the period.
La Salle shot 47 percent (14-of-30) from the field while VCU made just 30 percent (10-of-33) of its shots. The Explorers only had eight turnovers against the Rams' "havoc" defense compared to seven turnovers for VCU. La Salle also held a 10-3 advantage in fast break points.
NOTES: This is the fourth all-time meeting between the schools and the first since the 2004-05 season. VCU leads the series 3-0. ... VCU's consecutive sellout streak extended to 30 games, the fifth-longest active streak in the country. ... La Salle is facing ranked teams in back-to-back games for the first time since the Explorers played No. 4 Villanova and No. 1 Massachusetts in February of 1996.
