Ian Chiles scored a team-high 14 points and had a game-high five blocked shots against La Salle.
Box Score
Bracket
ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands (Nov. 23, 2013)-Tyrone Garland scored a game-high 25 points, including four three-pointers to lead four La Salle starters in double figures in scoring, as the Explorers defeated Morgan State, 78-59 in the night cap of Day 1 of the 2013 Ezybonds Paradise Jam Tournament, hosted by the University of the Virgin Islands.
Tyreek Duren scored 15 points, while Jerrell Wright shot 5-for-5 from the field for 12 points and Sam Mills also added 12 points for the Explorers, who improved to 3-2 on the season.
La Salle advances to face Providence on Sunday at 10 p.m., while the Bears dropped to the losers' bracket to take on Vanderbilt on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the University of the Virgin Islands' Sports & Fitness Center. Vanderbilt was a 67-60 loser to Providence on Friday.
Morgan State (0-5) was led by
Ian Chiles, who finished with 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting, five rebounds, two steals and a game-high five blocked shots.
Justin Black tallied 12 points and
Anthony Hubbard contributed 10 points, five rebounds and two assists.
The first half consisted of a series of runs, as Morgan State fell behind early and trailed 10-2 less than four minutes into the contest. The Bears got back in the game by using a 15-5 run to take their first lead of the game at 17-15, capped off by a three-pointer off the glass from the left corner by
Blake Bozeman with 9:12 left to play.
The Bears then put together a mini 6-2 spurt to increase their lead to six points (23-17), their largest of the first half and the game with 4:45 remaining.
The Explorers countered by scoring the next 13 points of the game in part of a 15-2 run to close out the first half and take a 32-25 halftime lead over Morgan State.
The Bears pulled within five points several times in the second half, the last coming at 41-36, but that would be as close as Morgan State would get with 11:25 remaining in the game.
La Salle went on a 26-12 run over eight minutes to take control of the game and put the Bears away.
"I thought we slowed them up with the zone," said Morgan State head coach
Todd Bozeman. "They weren't making shots in the first half, but in the second half, they made adjustments by moving a guy into the middle, and threw our guards off a little bit."
Morgan State concluded the night shooting 23-of-51 (45.1 percent) from the floor and just 2-of-10 (20 percent) from three-point range.
La Salle shot 45.2 percent (28-of-62) for the game, including 32 percent (9-of-28) from beyond the three-point arc. The Bears shot 11-of-17 (64 percent) from the charity line, while the Explorers were 13-of-19 for 68 percent.
Morgan State held a 36-28 advantage over La Salle in points in the paint and a slim 11-9 cushion in bench points. Both teams finished with 10 second chance points, while the Explorers held a 14-8 advantage in fast break points and outscored Morgan State 14-10 in points off turnovers.
