Temple University Athletics
OWL MEN DROP SIXTH STRAIGHT TO PENN, 68-62
12.30.01 | Men's Basketball
Temple (3-8), which also suffered a third-straight loss at the Liacouras Center for the first time ever, will open its 2002 Atlantic 10 Conference schedule at Fordham on Jan. 6. The Owls have one more non-conference game remaining, as they travel to North Carolina State on Jan. 26. Penn (7-3) notched just its' second win over a Chaney-coached team in 21 outings, the last a 73-70 decision in overtime at the Palestra on Nov. 23, 1998.
Both teams started slowly on the offensive end, as the Owls took their first lead at 8-7 over nine minutes into the contest. A three-point field goal by Lynn Greer gave Temple its biggest lead at 11-7 a minute later, but the game turned sour for Temple from that point on. The Quakers mounted a swift five-point run, capped by Tim Begley's three-pointer at the 7:45 mark and never trailed again. Following a short jumper by Temple's Nile Murry at the 6:44 mark, the Owls went into a shooting slump for the remainder of the half. David Klatsky's three pointer at the 3:58 mark gave Penn a 25-14 margin, and with 37 seconds left, Duane King drained a trey that gave the Quakers a 32-17 halftime bulge. Temple was outscored 18-4 over the final 7:21 of the first half.
Greer, who entered the contest averaging team-highs of 24.6 points and 40.8 minutes per game, was forced to the bench for the last five minutes of the half with his second personal foul. On Temple's first possession of the second half, he was whistled for his third on an offensive charge while driving the lane. Penn ran its lead to a game-high 19 points at 38-19 on another three-pointer by King with 17:39 to play. But Greer led the Owls back, feeding Murry for a layup after a steal at the 16:35 mark and connecting on long-range three pointers at the 15:14 and 13:31 marks. He picked up his fourth foul with 12:33 to play and fouled out with 13 points and a season-low 28 minutes at the 7:03 mark, with Temple trailing 50-44.
The Owls cut the lead to five on five occasions down the stretch, but Penn managed to hold on through its own shooting difficulties both from the field and the foul line. Following a missed three-point attempt by David Hawkins in which most of the Liacouras Center crowd believed he was fouled, Coach Chaney was called for a technical foul with Owls down 58-52 and 3:14 remaining. Adding insult to injury, the Temple mascot was also tagged with a "T" for approaching the official following the call on Chaney. Jeff Schiffner sank three of the four free throws, to put Penn up, 61-52. Still the Owls fought back, and a pair of free throws by Hawkins trimmed the Quaker lead to 65-62 with 20 seconds to play. But free throws by Schiffner and Ugonna Onyekwe iced it for the Quakers. Temple's Kevin Lyde and Alex Wesby also fouled out in the closing minutes.
Hawkins led the Owls with 16 points and tied with Lyde for the team lead in rebounds with eight. Wesby finished with 15 points and six rebounds. The Owls won a rugged battle of the boards with 43 rebounds to Penn's 40, but Temple's 5-for-28 (17.9%) shooting performance from three-point range, along with poor free-throw shooting proved to be the difference.
