Tyrone Garland transfers to La Salle

THE LA SALLE/Philadelphia high school connection continues. Tyrone Garland, the third all-time leading scorer in Public League history, is transferring from Virginia Tech to La Salle. Garland, a sophomore, will be able to play after the fall semester next year and will have 2 1/2 years of eligibility remaining.

This season, five players in La Salle's top six are from the Public and Catholic leagues. Garland is from John Bartram.

"We recruited Tyrone extremely hard out of high school," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "He is known as a scorer and can also be a very good passer and defender. He is the type of all-around guard, talent and person that will make our team better. He gives us an experienced player to continue our growth over the next 2 years. With his addition we will have tremendous team quickness and depth."

Garland is third behind Maureece Rice (2,681) and Wilt Chamberlain (2,206) with 2,198 career points. He was a two-time, first- team Class AAAA All-State selection. He averaged 28.5 points as a junior and 25.1 points as a senior.

Garland played in 30 games for 22-12 V-Tech last season, but averaged just 6.6 minutes and 2.7 points per game. He scored 31 points in the first two games this season, but then his playing time decreased dramatically. This season, he averaged 4.6 points in 10.8 minutes per game.

This was strictly a playing-time issue. Garland, a terrific student who was named to the ACC All-Academic team as a freshman, just wanted to get some more run so he is coming home to get it.