Cade Tyson came off the bench to hit five 3-point shots on his way to 23 points in North Carolina’s 93-67 romp past La Salle on Saturday at Chapel Hill, N.C.
RJ Davis added 13 points, while Von-Allen Lubin and Seth Trimble both had 10 points. Davis supplied five assists.
The Tar Heels (6-4), playing their first game of the season without a national ranking, have won two games in a row.
North Carolina shot 53.7 percent from the field, though it made just 10 of 31 launches from 3-point range.
Demetrius Lilley’s 16 points led La Salle (6-5), which lost its third game in a row. Reserves Deuce Jones and Eric Acker both had 13 points.
La Salle shot 34.5 percent on 3-pointers, aided by a couple of late 3s. Five of the 10 long-range baskets came from reserves, though Lilley made four 3s as a starter.
Tyson was 9-for-14 from the field. The transfer from Belmont reached a double-figure point total for only the second time this season.
Davis, who has been in a shooting slump for much of the season, bagged two of his six attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.
North Carolina also shot a poor 11-for-23 at the free-throw line.
Trimble grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to contribute to North Carolina’s 47-36 rebounding advantage.
North Carolina stepped out to a 42-25 halftime lead. Tyson made a 3-pointer for the Tar Heels’ first double-digit lead at 18-8.
The lead grew with North Carolina outscoring the Explorers 15-8 in the last 6 1/2 minutes of the first half. Tyson notched the final two baskets of the half for the Tar Heels.
Acker made two 3-pointers in a 70-second stretch for La Salle, but the Explorers couldn’t keep up.
It was the first meeting since January 1988, while the Explorers remained without a victory against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent since 1974.