3/10/2006 - Fordham, La Salle
Bryant Dunston led a balanced Fordham offense with 19 points and the Rams completed a day of upsets in the Atlantic 10 tournament with a 64-62 quarterfinal win over La Salle on Thursday night.
Sebastian Greene was the only other Rams player in double figures with 11 points, but four others scored eight or nine as the field's sixth seed eliminated the third-seeded Explorers. Fordham earned a berth in Friday's semifinals against Xavier, the No. 10 seed. All four of the tournament's top seeds, including No. 6 George Washington, lost Thursday after receiving first-round byes.
Fordham (16-15) extended its winning streak to four games, matching its season-high. The streak includes an 83-74 home win over La Salle on March 1.
Darnell Harris scored 17 points to lead La Salle (18-10). A foul-plagued Steve Smith matched his season low with 10 points.
Fordham, which led the conference in 3-point shooting during the regular season, made its first three 3s and four of its first eight while opening 16-point leads twice in the first half. La Salle missed its first seven 3-point attempts before making its last three of the half to cut the Rams' lead to 38-26 at halftime.
Dunston scored six unanswered points to open the second half, giving the Rams a 44-26 lead.
La Salle cut the lead to one twice in the final 1:11, but Dunston made two free throws and Marcus Stout added one in the final 32.6 seconds to hold off the Explorers.
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