#10 Owls Down Florida State 69-58

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Temple coach John Chaney was glad his defense

forced Florida State outside Monday night, but he wasn't so happy about

a school-record 13 blocked shots.

Lynn Greer scored 20 points and Temple's inside defense smothered

Florida State as the 10th-ranked Owls defeated the cold-shooting

Seminoles 69-58 Monday night.

Temple (2-1) led 28-26 at the half and used an 8-0 run to start the

second half to take command of the game as Florida State was never able

to get closer than eight points in the second half.

"It was done in a slow way and it was done basically with defense,"

Chaney said. "Most of their shots came from the outside. The defense

helped us out until we got a little spurt."

Sophomore Kevin Lyde recorded eight of Temple's school-record 13 blocked

shots as the Owls forced Florida State away from the basket and limited

the Seminoles to just 29.9 percent shooting.

But Chaney wasn't happy about so many blocked shots.

"It's not a stat I'm pretty proud of," he said. "When you block a shot

it's like being in an emergency ward. That's the last stop."

The 6-foot-9 Lyde and 6-10 Lamont Barnes, who blocked four shots, kept

Florida State shooting from the outside.

Ron Hale led Florida State (2-2) with 21 points and Damous Anderson

added 13, but both suffered subpar shooting performances. Hale hit on

7-of-22 attempts while Anderson made 5-of-16 shots and starting point

guard Delvon Arrington was just 2-for-10.

"You don't get too many breakaways on us," Chaney said.

Hale scored eight of his points in the first six minutes as Florida

State took an early 14-6 lead and the Seminoles were still up 26-23 with

two minutes left in the half.

Hale credited Temple's defense with slowing him down after the fast

start.

"They were finding me quicker," he said.

Florida State coach Steve Robinson looked for a silver lining in his

team's performance.

"I feel like we're on the right road, but we must keep traveling," he

said. "I don't think we can be a great team right now, but we can be a

good team."

Greer, a 6-1 junior handling the point guard duties for injured starter

Pepe Sanchez, hit 8 of 12 shots, including four 3-pointers. Sanchez, who

remained sidelined with a sprained ankle suffered in the season opener,

Nov. 21.

Quincy Wadley and Barnes each added 13 points for Temple, which shot

just 38.5 percent from the field. Mark Karcher, who averaged 15 points

in Temple's first two games, was just 3-for-17 from the floor, but

grabbed 11 rebounds and had 4 steals.

Temple University Athletics