Lineup change propels La Salle past Hartford

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The Explorers had a slightly different look when they took the court at Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday night.

Tyrone Garland was sitting on the bench to start. Garland was informed of the decision before the game, and he was perfectly fine with it.

“Coach came to me and said he wanted to start off big,” Garland said. “He said he thinks it would be better for the team. So, whatever works for the team, I’m there.”

The guard had been struggling to get going offensively prior to La Salle's 75-62 win over Hartford (see Instant Replay) and the change seemed to work. Garland finished with 17 points -- 13 of which came in the second half -- and two steals.

It was his second time coming off the bench this season. La Salle (4-4) won both of games.

“Well, first let’s look at my record with Tyrone Garland off the bench last year and this year,” Explorers head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “Not bad. We brought him off the bench for Quinnipiac, too. The other thing is Tyrone played much better off the bench last year. Of course he’d like to start. There’s 13 guys on our team that would like to start, and I don’t think there’s a player in America that doesn’t like to start. But I think Tryone’s played a little better off the bench.

“But here’s the big thing. When you bring Tyrone Garland and Khalid Lewis off the bench, now you have that spertability factor. Now you could have a five, six-point lead and make it a 12, 13-point lead.”

And that’s exactly what happened against the Hawks (2-7) on Wednesday. Lewis had a nine-point game and two assists off the bench to go along with Garland’s impressive performance.

Giannini’s record when Garland begins on the bench, in case you’re wondering, is 19-9 since Garland began playing for La Salle last season after transferring from Virginia Tech.

Steve Zack also took advantage of Giannini’s game plan. Although it took a while for the big man to get going, he finished a couple rebounds shy of what would have been his third-straight double-double.

“You do whatever’s working,” Zack said. “Me and Jerrell [Wright] both felt we had an advantage down there early, so we really attacked that.”

Luckily for the Explorers, who went just 1 for 8 from three-point range in the first half, Zack was strong down low. He was sent to the line four times and made 7 of 8 attempts. He finished the game with 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Though the Explorers have been struggling from distance of late, the second half showed a significant turnaround in their three-point shooting. They shot 60 percent from three-point range after intermission. That included a three from Sam Mill during a 7-0 Explorers' run to turn a six-point advantage into a 13-point lead and effectively seal the game.

“It’s just a little bit of a shooting slump,” Garland said. “Once our shooters like Sam [Mills] and D.J. [Peterson] hit a couple threes, that kind of motivates the team to hit a lot of threes. So once they get going, I think our three-point shooting will be better.”

Wright was a factor when he was on the court, but he wasn’t on the court much. The forward was in foul trouble early and fouled out late in the game. He scored nine points and added four rebounds in 11 minutes.

Tyreek Duren had another solid game with 10 points, three assists, one block and one steal.

La Salle will head to Madison Square Garden on Saturday to take on Stony Brook in the MSG Holiday Festival. The game begins at 11 a.m. and will be broadcast on CSN.

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