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La Salle cruises to 89-51 win over Towson

TOWSON, Md. - It's been a very long time since La Salle played this well. Just how good were the Explorers on Wednesday night at Towson?

TOWSON, Md. - It's been a very long time since La Salle played this well. Just how good were the Explorers on Wednesday night at Towson?

They won by 38 points - their widest margin since Feb. 22, 1990. And they didn't allow their overmatched opponent a shot for nearly the first three minutes of the game.

The Explorers' fourth consective win, an 89-51 victory at the Towson Center, was certainly an easy one. Now

La Salle (6-3) gets to host Army on Saturday before taking nine days off for exams.

It's the longest winning streak for the Explorers since they won five straight in 2008.

The 401st career win for coach John Giannini was even easier than his 400th, a 26-point victory over Bucknell on Saturday.

"I don't like the word dominant," Giannini said. "I thought we played really hard and played really well. Our defensive effort was great, and our players were very unselfish."

Sam Mills led La Salle with 18 points - one off his career high. He was 5 for 7 from three-point range. Earl Pettis had 15 points, all in the first half. The five starters scored in double figures for the first time all season.

The Explorers scored the first 13 points and built a 17-2 lead in the first six minutes. Towson (0-8) never made it closer than 34-24 for the rest of the half, which closed with three-pointers by D.J. Peterson and Pettis.

The Explorers led, 48-28, at halftime. By then, Pettis and Mills had combined for one more than the Tigers.

"It starts with pressure," Pettis said. "A lot of teams don't like pressure, and they get rattled."

In the second half, Ramon Galloway, who had three points at halftime, hit two layups in the first minute and two three-pointers for a 66-39 La Salle lead with 13 minutes, 27 seconds to play.

Galloway finished with 15 points. Tyreek Duren added 12. Freshman forward Jerrell Wright had 11 - 10 in the second half.

Senior walk-on forward Matt Sheehan scored La Salle's final two points - his only career points - with 1:34 to play.

La Salle had a season-high 14 three-pointers and shot 53.2 percent, 51.9 percent on threes, both season bests.

"We think that every opponent should be treated like they're the No. 1 team in the country," Giannini said.

The sad-sack Tigers are much closer to the worst team in the nation. They lost their 27th straight. Coincidentally, their last win came nearly a year ago on Dec. 29, when they when they beat La Salle, 93-90, in overtime at Tom Gola Arena.