Dr. John Giannini’s La Salle Explorers may be one of the more maddening teams in the Atlantic 10. Blessed with some very good individual talents, the Explorers have failed to translate that individual skill into team success thus far. But maybe their win Saturday afternoon at Rhode Island can be the catalyst for a turnaround, as an Aaric Murray three-point play with 28 seconds remaining gave the Explorers (9-11, 1-4) their first conference victory by the final score of 76-75. Murray led all scorers with 20 points, connecting on seven of ten field goals while also shooting 6-for-7 from the foul line, while Earl Pettis (14 points) and Tyreek Duren (11 and seven assists) stepped up to provide relief for an off game from Ruben Guillandeaux (2-9 FG, five points and a technical foul). And despite all five starters reaching double figures, with Marquis Jones leading the way with 15 points, Rhode Island failed to extend their win streak to four games.

Delroy James posted the game’s lone double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds (also accounting for five assists and six turnovers) but the Rams didn’t shoot particularly well from the field (36.5%) while also being outscored in the paint 38-23. But the Explorers conspired to keep both teams in the game as well, turning the ball over 19 times (URI finished with 18 turnovers), leading to 22 Rhode Island points. Jones kicked off the scoring with a jumper just 15 seconds into the game but the clean start was by no means a harbinger of things to come for the Rams, who were ice cold from three (3-for-16) in the first half and they weren’t much better from two either (5-for-14). La Salle went on a 9-2 run following a Will Martell free throw to put URI up 3-0, with a Sam Mills layup with 14:59 remaining capping the spurt. Thanks to the Rams missed shots and turnovers the Explorers would lead by as many as 12 (32-20) before the home team closed the half on an 8-0 run to make the score 32-28.