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La Salle Looks For Second Straight Win Wednesday Vs. Richmond

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The La Salle Explorers will look to make it two straight wins on Wednesday night when they visit the Richmond Spiders.

La Salle snapped a seven-game losing streak last time out on Saturday, taking care of a very good Dayton team at Gola Arena, 61-57. A key for the Explorers (5-8 overall, 1-2 A-10) in the win was slowing the game down, waiting until late in the shot clock to shoot the basketball. But head coach Dr. John Giannini says they did more than just control the pace.

"Even though you have fewer possessions," Giannini tells KYW Newsradio, "you still have to defend, you still have to pass, you still have to get good shots, you still have to make shots, you have to scrap on the boards. We did a good job, as we say, of following our training. We fronted the post, we trapped the post, we boxed out. One of the reasons for Dayton's success, besides having outstanding players, is they're about as fundamentally as sound a basketball team as you could watch play. So we said we have to match that and even be better. So we won because of the basics, and we did slow the game down because we're only playing five or six guys out of necessity and I don't think we could've beaten them in a game with a ton of possessions."

Listen to the entire interview with La Salle head coach Dr. John Giannini:

 

Once again it was redshirt junior guard Jordan Price leading the way for the Explorers in the win. He played an outstanding all-around game with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

"Some of those assists were high level point guard-quality assists," Giannini says. "Where he made plays and found people that most players wouldn't see. Jordan has great poise and he's a laid back guy, so we constantly push him in terms of doing more and playing with more energy and we're challenging him. And he's responding because I've always said he wants to be a great player, not just a great scorer. So if you see us beat a really good team, it's probably because Jordan had a great overall game and really stuffed up the stat sheet."

Price is currently second in the Atlantic 10 and 12th in the nation in scoring, pouring in 22.2 points per game. He is second on the team in rebounds (5.2 per game) and assists (40).

On Wednesday night the Explorers will match-up with a Richmond team that is 9-6 this season and 1-2 in the Atlantic 10. The Spiders are coming off a Sunday road win over Fordham, 93-82. It was a victory which snapped a three-game losing streak. The Spiders have four players averaging in double figures with senior forward Terry Allen leading the way at 19.7 points a game.

"They are especially tough at home," Giannini says. "They are wonderfully coached (head coach Chris Mooney). They'll run the Princeton offense. What I think is tougher, though, to play against is their match-up defense. They're going to switch everything and it's hard to get a good shot. So it's just going to be another great A-10 challenge."

Last season, La Salle beat Richmond at Gola Arena, 64-62, on February 5th.

Wednesday night's game will tip-off at 7:00pm.

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