Temple University Athletics
GREER'S 43-POINT PERFORMANCE LEADS OWLS PAST FORDHAM, 91-74
1.30.02 | Men's Basketball
Temple (7-12, 4-3 A-10) pulled into sole possession of second place in the East Division of the Atlantic 10 Conference with the crucial win. The Owls trail only undefeated Philadelphia Big 5-rival St. Joseph's in the A-10 East and the Hawks will visit the Liacouras Center on Saturday. Fordham (8-10, 4-4), off to its best A-10 start ever, dropped into a third-place tie in the division with St. Bonaventure.
The first half was a fierce back-and-forth struggle that saw 15 lead changes and four ties. Both teams managed to build six-point leads during the period, but neither could gain the upper hand. A long three-pointer by Michael Haynes capped an 8-0 Fordham run at the 14:24 mark to put the Rams up, 15-9, but the Owls answered with the next seven points, and took a 16-15 lead on Greer's short jumper at 11:23. The teams traded baskets over the following seven minutes before Fordham tied it, 31-31, on a two-pointer by Mark Jarrell-Wright with 4:42 left. A three-pointer by Greer at the 3:54 mark, followed by a lay-up and foul shot by Hawley Smith, gave Temple its largest margin of the half at 37-31 with 3:19 remaining. But Fordham rebounded on Adrian Walton's three-pointer at 1:58 and closed to 37-36 on a fast-break lay-up by Jarrell-Wright at the 1:18 mark. Smith gave Temple a 40-36 lead with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession, but Glenn Batemon's free throw and Teremun Johnson's break-away dunk at the horn pulled the Rams to within a single point at the break, 40-39.
The Owls would never relinquish the lead and took control early in the second half. Greer's two-point jumper at the 16:39 mark gave the Owls their first double-digit lead at 52-41, and his three free throws at the 9:53 mark extended the margin to 69-53. William Parker's third-consecutive three-pointer cut the Temple margin to 10 with 7:26 to play, but the Owls responded with a six-point run that included two field goals by David Hawkins and a pair of free throws by Greer. After a dunk by Haynes and two more foul shots by Greer, the Owls fashioned an 11-0 run that settled the issue. The key bucket was Smith's three-pointer from the right wing with 2:47 left.
The injury bug that has plagued the Owls througout the season hit again in the second half, as starting guard Nile Murry suffered an injured right shoulder. His availability for Saturday's showdown with St. Joseph's is in doubt.
Greer not only set a Liacouras Center record for points in a game, he also set a new facility mark for field goals with 13. Included was a 7-for-9 performance from three-point range and a 10-for-11 effort from the foul line. Having tallied a career-high 47 points at Wisconsin in December, Greer's 43-point total marked just the third time in Temple basketball history for an Owl player to have two 40-point games in a season, joining legendary Hall of Famers Bill Mlkvy (1951) and Hal Lear (1957). Liacouras Center team records set included the highest point total for two teams (165) and most points in a half by one team (Temple's 51 in the second half).
Smith, a true freshman who entered the contest averaging just 4.8 minutes per game, posted his career high with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. Hawkins added a solid 16-point, nine-rebound performance, while Brian Polk scored 12. Senior center Kevin Lyde, who was hospitalized during the week with the flu, came off the bench to make a strong contribution with 11 rebounds. Parker was the Rams' high scorer with 27 points.
