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ST. THOMAS, USVI – The La Salle men's basketball team steadily pulled away from a determined Morgan State team to win its opening round game in the Paradise Jam, 78-59, on Friday night at the University of the Virgin Islands. Senior Tyrone Garland led all scorers with 25 points, while Tyreek Duren added 15.

The Explorers advance to play Providence (5-0) on Sunday at 9:30 PM Eastern time. The game will be broadcast nationally on the CBS Sports Network. The Friars came back from a 16-point second half deficit to stun Vanderbilt, 67-60. The contest will be a rematch of the 2010 Cancun Challenge, in which La Salle captured an 84-73 victory.

"I was pleased with a lot of things but our zone offense really struggled," head coach Dr. John Giannini said. "Our offense made things tough on us. We played with more consistent defensive effort and more consistent rebounding effort. We had some guys really step up offensively down the stretch, Tyreek, Tyrone and Jerrell especially."

Junior Jerrell Wright and senior Sam Mills each added 12 points for the Explorers (3-2). Wright shot 5-for-5 from the field and is 11-for-12 in the last two games. He scored 11 of his 12 points after intermission.

The win gives Giannini 146 at La Salle, moving him past Naismith Hall of Famer Ken Loeffler and into second place on the program's win list behind Speedy Morris (238).

The Blue and Gold didn't shoot the ball well from three-point range (32%) but still managed to make nine triples. La Salle has won its last 15 games when making at least nine threes.

The Explorers came out of the gates firing and led 10-2 after almost four minutes of play. The Bears (0-5) then rallied, going on a 15-5 run that gave them the lead midway through the first half.

Morgan State led by as many as six points with under five to play before halftime before a quick 13-0 La Salle spurt gave the Explorers a lead they would not relinquish.

The Bears would cut the lead to five several times in the second half but would get no closer. The Explorer advantage reached double-digits midway through the half and ballooned to 21 on a Garland three with 47 seconds left.

Ian Chiles led Morgan State, who take on Vanderbilt on Saturday, with 14 points.

With a victory over undefeated Providence, the Explorers would be one step closer to capturing their first regular season tournament victory since the 2004 Dr. Pepper Classic.

NOTES: Duren started his 77^th straight games, the second longest active streak in the nation…He also played 37 minutes after entering the game leading the nation…Wright battled foul trouble which prevented a fourth straight double-double…O.J. Lewis made his first appearance of the season and made a three-pointer…Hank Davis made his Explorer debut…