January 3, 2009

Boxscore

PHILADELPHIA, PA. - Eugene Myatt made his homecoming a good one as he scored a team-high 19 points and Chris McHenry came off the bench to score 18, but it was not to overcome the efforts of Rodney Green, who tallied 14 of his game-high 21 points in the seoond half as LaSalle pulled away to an 81-66 win over Howard University in a non-conference men's basketball game at the Tom Gola Center.

A 6-5 senior forward from Philadelphia, Pa, Myatt scored 13 of his points after intermission, but the Explorers (8-5) were the fresher of the two teams as they used their bench liberally to take advantage of the short-handed and fatigued Bison.  Howard suited up only nine players and was playing its sixth game in 14 days, with five coming during separate cross country trips to Oregon and Utah.

LaSalle shot 62 percent from the field in both halves.  The Bison rebounded from a poor shooting performance in the first half (31 percent) to finish the game at a respectable 46 percent, but 21 points off their 11 turnovers was too much to overcome.

"We came out strong and gave a good effort," explained Myatt, who now needs 70 points to reach the 1,000-point mark in his career.  "They made some adjustments at the half and they were also able to take advantage of some size matchups.  I also think we got a little tired at times and it cost us."

Howard (1-12) stayed close despite some disadvantages and rallied from double-digit deficts on several occasions early in the second half, but each time the Explorers went to Green, Kimmani Barrett (16 points) or Reuben Guillandeaux (12 points) to stave off potential Howard runs.

McHenry, a 5-11 freshman from Milwaukee, Wisc., came alive after a slow start and poured in 16 of his points during the last 10 minutes of the game.  He was four-of-five from the three-point line.

NEXT UP: Howard travels to Tallahasse, FL and Daytona Beach FL on Saturday and Monday for conference games