Temple University Athletics
ROLLERSON SCORES CAREER HIGH AS TEMPLE DEFEATS PENN STATE, 75-63
12.1.01 | Men's Basketball
Eventually the Owls will, but not when Ron Rollerson plays like he did Saturday afternoon against Penn State.
Rollerson stepped in for the injured Lyde, who left the game with a sprained ankle with four seconds remaining in the first half, to score a career-high 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Owls' 75-63 victory over Penn State.
Rollerson played 24 minutes to spark the Owls to their second victory of the season in front of 7,691 at the Liacouras Center on Saturday.
"Ron played pretty good today," Temple coach John Chaney said after the game. "He really surprised me."
Chaney went on to say that Lyde will be out, "10 days, maybe more," and he is hoping that Lyde will be able to return by the end of the month.
"We took him to the hospital and it is a sprain on the outside of his ankle," Chaney said. "He probably will not be able to play our next road trip. Right now we just hope that [the x-ray] doesn't show any fracture."
Lyde hurt his ankle while attempting to rebound a missed free throw with four seconds remaining in the first half. He was undercut by a Penn State player and crashed to the floor before being helped off the court. Lyde had six points, six rebounds and two blocks before leaving.
As for the rest of the game, the Owls dominated play and led 40-22 at halftime. Temple continued to cruise in the second half and led by as much as 26 with 15:13 remaining in the game before winning by 12.
Rollerson played a big part in the Owl victory scoring nine points and grabbing five rebounds after Lyde left the game.
Senior Lynn Greer scored 25 points on 10 of 18 shooting. Greer has scored over 25 points in his last three games and moved into 12th place on the Temple's all-time scoring list with 1,493 points.
On the afternoon Greer passed Temple legends Quincy Wadley, Howard Evans, Bill "Pickles" Kennedy, Eddie Jones, Mik Kilgore and Hal Lear on the all-time scoring list. Greer also had six assists and two steals.
Senior Alex Wesby gave an encore performance from last Friday, when he scored a career high 21 points against Charlotte, with 20 points against Penn State. Wesby hit 7 of 13 from the field and four of six from behind the three-point arc to help the Owls. Wesby has made nine of his last 14 three-point attempts.
Freshman Nile Murry played 35 minutes and scored five points with four assists, while turning the ball over twice. Murry also grabbed five rebounds and had three steals. Freshman Glen Elliott and sophomore Brian Polk rounded out the scoring with two points a piece.
The Owls now take to the road for four straight games, before returning home Dec. 20 to take on Memphis at 9 p.m. at the Liacouras Center.
Temple next plays at Wisconsin, on Monday, Dec. 3 and at top-ranked Duke (8 p.m.,ESPN2) on Wednesday, Dec. 5.
-Story written by David Stegon for Owlsports.com
