The 13th-ranked Miami Hurricanes visited the City of Brotherly Love and treated their hosts like ugly step sisters on Saturday. The Hurricanes rocked the LaSalle Explorers 95-49 at the Palestra in Philadelphia.
The 46-point loss was the largest in LaSalle history.
Miami jumped out to an 11-point lead midway through the first half on a Ja’Quan Newton jumper. The Hurricanes intensified the storm kept coming, piling up a 40-22 lead at halftime.
Ivan Cruz-Uceda drilled a three-pointer to increase Miami’s lead to 60-31 with 13:50 remaining. The reserves earned significant playing time and actually built on the already huge advantage.
Miami outscored LaSalle 55-27 in the second half. The final margin was the largest lead of the game.
The statistics clearly describe the rout as it developed. Miami shot 53 percent for the game, compared to LaSalle’s 30 percent. The Hurricanes outrebounded the Explorers 51-24, including a 12-4 margin on the offensive board.
Hurricanes’ coach Jim Larranaga credited his team’s defensive effort.
“We made a couple of miscues, but our defense was so good for such a long period of time, I was very, very proud of the effort,” said Larranaga. “The defense was exactly the way we want to play over the last 16 minutes.”
Cruz-Uceda led the Hurricanes in scoring with 20 off the bench while Sheldon McClellan added 14. The Miami bench scored 47 points and the starters tallied 48.
LaSalle had no players in double figures and were led by Johnnie Shuler with 9. Three players had 8 points.
With the victory, Miami moves to 10-1 on the season. They host the Princeton Tigers on December 29 before ACC play begins on January 2 when Syracuse comes to town.
