CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A bad night by Ramon Galloway led to an even worse game by La Salle in its Atlantic Ten opener on Wednesday night.
The Explorers posted season lows in shooting and scoring and saw their chances at a second-half rally repeatedly stifled in a 74-65 loss to Charlotte.
Galloway, the A-10's leading scorer at 17.8 points per game, finished with a game-high 23 for La Salle (10-4, 0-1). But he shot a season-worst 7 of 29 from the field and made just 3 of 14 three-pointers.
"It was just one of those nights," Galloway said. "They're big, but we had a lot of open shots we just missed. I shot the ball terrible, but my teammates kept telling me to shoot it."
As Galloway went, so did the Explorers. The 49ers (13-2, 1-0) held them to a season-low 17 points in the first half and built a 16-point lead at the break.
La Salle finished with a season-low 32.5 percent shooting (25 of 77) and 13.8 percent on three-pointers (4 of 29).
While the Explorers were able to take advantage of Charlotte's 21 turnovers to repeatedly cut into its double-digit lead in the second half, the numbers eventually caught up with them.
"We definitely lost this game in the first half," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "We gave ourselves a chance in the second half, but obviously the shots didn't go in for us.
"Charlotte just out-competed us in the first half. They did everything better than us."
Pierria Henry's 20 points led four players in double figures for the 49ers, who got most of their scoring off the bench. E. Victor Nickerson added 13 points, Darion Clark had 12, and DeMario Mayfield scored 10.
Tyreek Duren (Neumann-Goretti) had 12 points and Jerrell Wright (Dobbins Tech) added 11 for the Explorers, who play Richmond at home on Saturday.
