After a devastating last-second loss to Saint Louis last time out, Rahsool Diggins and the UMass men’s basketball team bounced back in a big way on Sunday.

Diggins scored 34 points on 7-of-13 shooting from 3-point range, and the Minutemen cruised past La Salle for a 78-55 Atlantic 10 victory at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia.

It was the fourth 30-plus point scoring game of the season for Diggins, a Philly native, and the second in his last two outings after also toppling that milestone in a win over Duquesne the previous weekend.

“As a guy that’s invested so much in helping us build this program, he wasn’t going to allow us to lose two games in a row,” UMass head coach Frank Martin said of Diggins. “Not this time of year.”

Jaylen Curry scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds in the win for UMass (11-13 overall, 6-5 A-10). Daniel Hankins-Sanford recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

“We just played Frank Martin basketball,” said Hankins-Sanford of the team’s performance. “Physical, tough, box out for rebounds… we just played together. This is what we talked about since we lost to Saint Louis. We can’t be down from the loss, we have to have a next game mentality.”

UMass led 35-31 at halftime but blitzed the Explorers (12-12, 4-7) in the second half to the tune of a 43-24 advantage. 

The Minutemen shot 47 percent from the floor and 39.3 percent from 3-point range (11-for-28). They also owned the glass, outrebounding La Salle by a whopping 46-25 margin including 17 offensive boards. Daniel Rivera pulled down eight rebounds to go with six points, and Jayden Ndijgue finished with eight rebounds and five assists.

Diggins hit a trio of 3-pointers early in the second half as the Minutemen opened the frame on a 24-10 run. His 3 with 9:33 to go extended the visitors’ advantage to 59-41, and UMass extended it from there down the stretch.

UMass finished with 18 assists on its 32 field goals, a number Martin pointed to in the postgame press conference as integral to the team’s success on the road Sunday.

Corey McKeithan paced La Salle with 17 points, but was held to just 1-for-7 shooting from 3-point range.

With UMass jockeying for position in the Atlantic 10 standings (currently tied for fourth place with Dayton at 6-5), the Minutemen now have two huge home games on the horizon as Davidson (14-9, 4-6) comes to the Mullins Center on Wednesday and St. Bonaventure (17-8, 6-6) visits on Saturday.