Murray paces La Salle in upset of Providence

Aaric Murray. Remember the name.

The La Salle sophomore center was instrumental yet again, this time leading the Explorers in a surprising, 84-73 win over Providence in the Cancun Challenge yesterday in Mexico.

Looking for their first regular-season tournament championship since winning the 2004 Dr. Pepper Classic in Chattanooga, the Explorers (4-1) will play tonight at 9:30 against No. 11 Missouri, a 72-62 winner over Wyoming in the nightcap.

For the second consectutive game, Murray finished with 20 points. He had 16 in the second half, including 14 straight, and had 11 rebounds. Despite Murray's dominance, this was a team win, as five Explorers finished with double figures. Earl Pettis tied his career high with 18 points, followed by Ruben Guillandeaux (13 points), Jerrell Williams (13 points, 13 rebounds) and Devon White (11 points).

"Any time your team gives a great effort, you have to be happy," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "Our effort was tremendous. All eight guys who played contributed a great deal. It was a great team win. We keep getting better, and I think we can keep getting better."

The Explorers were up, 44-28, at the half and led by as much as 19. They also outrebounded the Friars, 59-31, a season high.

Marshon Brooks (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Vincent Council (17 points) led Providence (4-1), which outscored La Salle in the second half, 45-40.

Murray, named Big 5 Player of the Week on Monday, expressed excitement at the prospects of playing the Tigers, but added that to beat them, the Explorers have a lot of work to do.

"It's a great opportunity [to play Missouri] and play a ranked team, one of the best teams in the country," he said. "[But] it's also a great opportunity to fix some things we didn't do well against Baylor [La Salle's lone loss] and get a big win."

Missouri (3-0) got 17 points and eight rebounds from Michael Dixon in its win over the Cowboys. *

- Kerith Gabriel