December 31, 2008 by John Lamb | A10CollegeHoops

PHILADELPHIA – Five players scored in double figures for the Explorers, who cruised to a 89-64 victory over the visiting Manhattan Jaspers at the Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

Three La Salle (7-5) players, Ruben Guillandeaux (22 points), Vernon Goodridge (15 points) and Terrell Williams (14 points), put up career highs for points scored. Rodney Green added 18 points and Yves Mekongo Mbala 10 for the Explorers, who have now won three of their last four games.

Guillandeaux also led the team with eight rebounds and seven assists — both career highs. As a team, La Salle had 20 assists to just 12 turnovers. Coming into the game, the Explorers averaged 12.5 assists and 15.7 turnovers.

La Salle forced the Jaspers into committing 15 turnovers, which led to 20 points. The Explorers also held an edge in the fast break department as they scored 16 points to Manhattan’s two.

Manhattan was able to cut the Explorers’ lead to 13 with 16:30 left in the second half but that was the closest they came. La Salle went on to lead by as many as 26 points in the game.

Forwards Paul Johnson (concussion) and Jerrell Williams (back pain) were scratches. Becaue of the injuries, junior forward Steve Weingarten, a transfer from Connecticut College, saw the most playing time of his young La Salle career. He pulled down 3 rebounds to go along with a steal in 12 minutes of action.

Chris Smith, the Jaspers’ (7-5) leading scorer who averaged 15.5 points per game, was only able to manage 5 points on 1-of-12 shooting. Devon Austin and Antoine Pearson led Manhattan in scoring with 13 and 11 points respectively.

Austin and Andrew Gabriel each pulled down five rebounds. The Explorers held a 34-28 rebounding advantage.

The game was close for about eight minutes in the first half before the Explorers started to pull away. Three Explorers scored double digits in the first half, led by Green’s 13 points. Goodridge and Guillandeaux scored 11 and 10 respectively.

An emphatic Goodridge dunk with just under ten minutes to go in the first half started a 19-4 run that put the Explorers out in front 42-21 with 2:28 remaining. The junior forward also pulled down three boards and blocked two shots in the half.

Green went on a run of his own as he scored seven straight points to push the Explorers’ lead to double digits with 5:42 to go.

La Salle shot 69 percent from the field in the first half. They shot 60 percent for the game.

The Explorers will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as they welcome in the Howard Bison (1-10, 0-1) to the Tom Gola Arena.