Temple University Athletics
HAWKINS' HEROICS NOT ENOUGH AS TEMPLE FALLS TO MIAMI IN ORANGE BOWL CLASSIC, 72-66
12.20.03 | Men's Basketball
"They are dropping like flies on us," stated the Owls mentor who remains four wins shy of 700 career victories.
This time, it was 7-1 sophomore center Keith Butler who was helped off the court, and later to Miami's Mercy Hospital. Butler played the first eight minutes before suffering a contusion to his eye in a collision under the basket. He also had concussion-like symptoms, but following his evaluation at the hospital, a concussion was ruled out.
Junior Nehemiah Ingram filled in for Butler and played a strong game, tallying career highs in points (8) and rebounds (7). He hit four-of-six shots from the field and six of his rebounds were offensive.
Despite the Butler injury, and the fact that Temple had to go deeper into a young bench than Coach Chaney would like, the Owls still had their chances. But poor shooting (5-23 from 3-point range), and porous perimeter defense (56% Miami shooting) was too much to overcome.
Senior All-America candidate David Hawkins, who leads the Atlantic 10 with a 22.6 scoring average, again tried to carry his team on his back. Hawkins posted a game-high 28 points, including 19 of the Owls' 36 in the second half. But again, no one stepped up to compliment him.
With his 28 points, Hawkins moved past two Temple legends, "The Owl without a Vowel", Bill Mlkvy (1,539 points) and current TU color analyst John Baum (1,544) and into ninth place on the all-time scoring list with 1,549 points. He also matched his career high in steals with seven and tied for team honors in rebounding (7) as well.
Temple controlled the tempo and the game early on. The Owls built a 26-17 lead with 5:18 to play on an Ingram follow shot. Then Miami went to a 1-3-1 defense and reeled off 10 straight points to take a one-point advantage (27-26) with 1:22 on the clock. The teams traded baskets and it looked like the Hurricanes would enter intermission with the lead until Mardy Collins stole the ball at half court and took it in for a dunk to give the Cherry and White a 30-29 lead heading to the locker room.
Mario Taybron, who scored eight of his career-high 13 points in the opening stanza, suffered back spasms at halftime and had to come out after the first two minutes of the second half. He did not return until there was just over seven minutes remaining to play and the Owls trailing by nine, 57-48.
The freshman point guard immediately hit a three-pointer to spark a 8-2 run, cutting the deficit to one possession, 59-56, with 4:43 to play. The Owls eventually clawed back to tie the game at 62 on a Hawkins' jumper with just under three minutes left. Hawkins then gave Temple a brief lead, 64-62, with 1:53 to play. That would be it for TU, however, as Miami ran off 10 unanswered points to seal the win.
The Hurricanes, 6-3, were led by their All-America Candidate Darius Rice. A 6-11 power forward with good perimeter range, Rice drained nine-of-15 from the field (5-9 from 3PT range) for 25 points. Robert Hite added 15 points while Guillermo Diaz came off the bench to add 10 points.
"When you put Rice's name on the board, all five players have to concentrate on stopping him," stated Hawkins, who almost played for Miami head coach Perry Clark, having signed with Tulane when he was at the school. "We let him (Rice) get off. That is going to be the story when you let the highlight player go off."
Temple, 3-5, made a season-high 15 steals, forcing 23 turnovers. But the Owls were unable to capitalize.
"Anytime we can not beat a team that has 20-some turnovers we are in big trouble," lamented Chaney.
TU now has two weeks off to get healthy before traveling to Bloomington, Ind. for a nationally-televised meeting with the Indiana Hoosiers on January 3.
