WASHINGTON (AP) — Jerrell Wright scored 15 points including nine straight to open the second half and La Salle held on for a 60-56 win over George Washington on Wednesday night.

Earl Pettis scored 14 points and Tyreek Duren added 12 points for the Explorers (19-11, 8-7 Atlantic 10 Conference), who snapped a two-game losing streak. The victory guaranteed La Salle no worse than a .500 regular-season conference record with one game remaining.

The Explorers never trailed and, after a pair of Duren free throws, led 57-47 with 3:17 remaining. The Colonials (10-19, 5-10) countered with a 9-0 run and Tony Taylor's driving layup with 21 seconds remaining cut the deficit to 57-56 with 21 seconds, but they would get no closer.

La Salle missed five of their final seven free throws, but Duren hit two of four inside the final 16 seconds.

David Pellom led the Colonials with 16 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth consecutive double-double. Despite the loss, George Washington clinched a berth in next week's Atlantic 10 tournament following Fordham's loss at Rhode Island.

On Saturday, La Salle closes out its regular season at home against St. Bonaventure while George Washington plays at Dayton.

The Explorers took the lead for good at 6-4 and entered the locker room up 29-24.

Aaron Ware and Lasan Kromah each scored 10 points for the Colonials, who shot 53.8 percent (14 of 26) in the second half, but finished with 17 turnovers. The Explorers capitalized on the Colonials miscues, scoring 17 points off the takeaways.

Behind Pellom and Kromah, the Colonials finished with a dominant 35-1 bench-scoring advantage.

Pellom, the conference leader in field goal percentage (68.8), made 7 of 9 shots.