DAYTON, Ohio —Tyrone Garland led La Salle’s guard-driven offense with 22 points, and the Explorers wrapped up the NCAA Tournament’s First Four by getting the better of an old-fashioned shootout, beating Boise State 80-71 last night.
The 13th-seeded Explorers (22-9) play fourth-seeded Kansas State tomorrow.
Ramon Galloway, one of the Atlantic 10’s top scorers, added 21 points in a fast-paced offense that did pretty much whatever it wanted.
Garland went 9 of 11 from the field — his best shooting game of the season — and the Explorers were 11 of 21 behind the arc.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Garland said. “When I came here, coach [John Giannini] told me I could help him win games and get him to the next step.”
Thirteenth-seeded Boise State (21-11) got its first at-large bid and was looking for the first NCAA tournament win in its history. The Broncos were up to it in a game of top-this shooting, falling to 0-6 in the tournament.
Anthony Drmic had a game-high 28 points for the Broncos, who shot 49 percent but trailed most of the way.
La Salle is back in the tournament for the first time since 1992, a 21-year span that included a rape scandal involving three players. The men’s and women’s basketball coaches were fired over it in 2004, and Giannini came in to dig out the program.