UMass is no longer perfect at home after the La Salle Explorers, behind 18 points from senior guard Earl Pettis, upended the Minutemen 72-71 on Saturday evening.
Pettis was one of four Explorers to score in double digits, as a trio of teammates -- Tyreek Duren, Ramon Galloway and Jerell Wright -- each chipped in 15 points.
Freshman forward Maxie Esho was a surprise contributor from the bench for UMass, scoring a career-best 18 points on 7-9 shooting. His contributions proved not to be enough, however, and the Minutemen slip to 7-5 in A-10 conference play.
With the win, La Salle pulled itself into a tie with UMass within the conference, and both teams have positioned themselves in the A-10's upper-tier heading into the conference tournament, to be held starting early next month.
For all the latests news and note about college hoops, check out SB Nation's NCAA basketball home page.