Owls Overpower Hokies; Karcher Nets 22 in Victory Over V. Tech

PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ For Virginia Tech, facing Mark Karcher's offense and the Temple defense was a little like taking an exam without an

ounce of studying. It was a test they had no chance of passing.

Karcher had 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field as the Owls dominated the Hokies, 66-46, Saturday to win for the third straight time and

sixth time in the last seven games.

"We just didn't have an answer for him," said Virginia Tech coach Ricky Stokes of Karcher. "We didn't have one early and we didn't have one late.

He can do it all and he made us pay big."

Even John Chaney, notorious for being hard on his players, was impressed.

"When he's scoring well, he turns into a demon," Chaney said. "He was relentless today."

Lamont Barnes had 14 points, even though he was just 4-for-11 from the foul line, and Lynn Greer added 10 for the Owls, who held the Hokies to a

season-low in points. Temple, which forced 21 turnovers, has not lost to Virginia Tech in the eight games they have faced off.

"Our turnovers were simply bad execution of our passes and handling the ball," Stokes said.

However, Temple guard Pepe Sanchez, who had six points and nine assists, thought that the way Virginia Tech lost was just part of the Owls'

formula.

"That's the way we always play," Sanchez said. "I think teams get tired of facing our defense in the second half. When we play good defense and

control the other team, they get tired and start missing passes and start missing shots."

Dennis Mims had 11 points, on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, and nine rebounds for Virginia Tech, which had a three-game win streak snapped.

The Owls (12-4, 5-1) juggled their starting lineup a bit, with Greer and Ron Rollerson starting in place of Kevin Lyde and Quincy Wadley. Despite

the change, Temple held a seven-point advantage at halftime, with Karcher scoring 13. Six players scored for the Hokies (9-8, 3-3) in the half,

hitting 43 percent of their field goal attempts.

Temple built on its lead in the second half, scoring 24 of the first 32 points after the break to open up a 55-31 lead with 8:40 left.

The Hokies went more than five minutes without scoring in the second half, with the Owls running off 12 straight points. Virginia Tech had just three

field goals in the first 12:09 of the second half and fell behind 55-31 with 8:40 to go. Mims had a three-point play to break the drought.

Temple University Athletics