Philadelphia, PA—Trailing by one with 21.3 seconds to play, La Salle forward Steven Smith drove hard to his left and made what appeared to be the go-ahead basket, but was called for a controversial charge that infuriated the crowd and doomed the Explorers to a 72-67 defeat at the hands of conference rival Duquesne at Tom Gola Arena.

The Explorers (5-13) led just once, 57-56, after a powerful slam from Lewis Fadipe (Lagos, Nigeria/Forest Hill School), but spent the rest of the afternoon climbing uphill.  They relied heavily on the three-point shot, but only connected on 11-of-38 attempts (29%).

Darnell Harris (Baltimore, MD/St. Francis) was La Salle’s leading scorer with 20 points, including five three-pointers.  Steven Smith (Philadelphia, PA/Northeast) provided his normal double-double, cashing in for 19 points and 10 rebounds despite being guarded by nearly every member of the Duquesne’s team, sometimes all at once.

Duquesne was led by lanky forward Kieron Achara, who scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting and was a perfect 8-8 from the foul line.  The Dukes, who entered the game as the 4^th best free-throw shooting team in the nation, shot 15-16 (94%) from the charity stripe.

La Salle spent much of the first half trailing by double-digits.  The Dukes hammered the ball inside, outscoring the Explorers 18-4 in the paint, but also connected on 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.  Darnell Harris connected on four three-pointers of his own - including a 27-foot bomb as time expired – and La Salle trailed by just six, 42-36, at halftime.

Before today, the Dukes hadn’t beaten La Salle in Philadelphia since January 20^th, 1979.     

The Explorers will continue their Atlantic 10 schedule on Wednesday, February 2^nd when they travel to Xavier to take on the Musketeers at 7:30 P.M.