Temple University Athletics
TEMPLE HOPES FOR A CLASSIC GAME AGAINST DREXEL ON SATURDAY
12.5.03 | Men's Basketball
Temple leads the all-time series with Drexel, 26-8, with the Owls besting the Dragons, 68-59, at the Liacouras Center in the opening round of last year's NIT. The previous meeting between the two Philadelphia Division I programs came in the 1994 NCAA Tournament, a 61-39 Temple win in Landover, Md. Prior to that, the two former East Coast Conference rivals had played for 17 straight seasons (1970-71 through 1986-87) with the Owls owning a 17-2 advantage during that time frame. This, however, will be just the fourth meeting between the two programs at The Palestra, and the first since a 95-73 Owl win on February 3, 1979. The other two Palestra meetings also resulted in Temple victories (69-47 on 3/1/75 and 58-54 on 2/28/76).
Last year's game saw Temple overcome a 30-23 deficit late in the first half on the strength of a 17-0 run. When the spurt was over the Owls led 40-30 and cruised to a comfortable win. Four Temple players reached double figures in points led by Alex Wesby (20). Kenell Sanchez led four Dragon double figure scores with 16 points.
