Garland scores 26 as La Salle tops Iona
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La Salle junior guard Tyrone Garland won't have many great memories of his first half at his new arena, but the second half was a different story.
Playing only his second game for the Explorers after sitting out a year, the transfer from Virginia Tech scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half as La Salle defeated Iona, 88-74, in a run-and-gun nonconference game at Tom Gola Arena.
La Salle is now 7-2 while Iona fell to 5-5.
Garland had nine points in his debut, Saturday's 74-66 loss at Bucknell.
During the first half against Iona, which ended with the Explorers ahead, 49-45, Garland shot just 3 for 10 from the field and 0 for 5 from beyond the arc.
"Obviously, I started off making a house," Garland quipped, referring to the several bricks he laid in the first half. "They told me to keep shooting, and the nerves and everything calmed in the second half, and I was in the flow."
After intermission he shot 7 for 12 from the field and 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. At one point, Garland scored 14 consecutive points for the Explorers.
"What he really benefited from in the second half was his ability to move without the ball," La Salle coach John Giannini said.
Senior guard Ramon Galloway scored all 21 of his points in the first half, yet Giannini said it was the second half that was most impressive. Galloway took one shot after intermission, but had seven of his 10 assists and three of his six rebounds then.
"The second half was the best half I've seen Ramon Galloway play," Giannini said.
The second half?
"He played defense, he gave us leadership, he had a great assist-to-turnover ratio (7-2), and he was the guy who found Tyrone a lot."
With three NBA scouts in attendance, the 6-foot-3 Galloway showed his all-around game.
"The second half I didn't want to force anything and was looking for my teammates, and they were doing a great job of cutting and getting open," Galloway said.
David Laury, a 6-8 sophomore transfer playing his first game for Iona, had 21 points and 14 rebounds.