Temple University Athletics
MEN'S BASKETBALL DEFEATS NO. 10 XAVIER 63-57 IN A-10 SEMIFINALS TO ADVANCE TO CHAMPIONSHIP MEETING WITH DAYTON
3.14.03 | Men's Basketball
Temple meets No. 22-ranked Dayton, the West's No. 2 seed, on its home floor for the A-10 title at 6:05 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. The Flyers defeated No. 25-ranked Saint Joseph's 76-73 in Friday's other semifinal. The Owls are 6-6 in A-10 Championship finals.
Juniors David Hawkins and Brian Polk were the spark plugs in a hard-fought contest that featured 11 lead changes and three ties. Hawkins hustled his way to 21 points and six steals while playing the entire 40 minutes. Polk, who shot 1-5 in the first half, found his stroke after the midpoint scoring 20 points on 8-13 shooting to finish with a game-high 22 points.
After Xavier opened the game with a Lionel Chalmers three-pointer and Temple answered with a Hawkins trey, no team held a lead greater then two points for over 10 minutes on the clock. Trailing 11-10, the Owls went on a 7-0 run to take a 17-11 lead at 9:00 on a Hawkins' dunk. Xavier scored consecutive baskets to reduce the lead to two (17-15) before a Maurice Collins jumper gave TU a 21-17 advantage at 6:06. The Musketeers responded with five points, capped by a Chalmers three-pointer, to take a 22-21 edge at 3:19. After a Polk jump shot at 2:49, XU scored the final four points to take a 26-23 lead into the locker room.
After the break, Temple scored 11 of the first 13 points to take a 34-28 lead on a Polk trey at 15:52. Xavier reduced the advantage to one on two occasions, 34-33, on a Dedrick Finn three-pointer at 13:29 and 36-35 on a Romain Sato tip-in at 11:50. The Owls took a 39-35 edge at 10:15 on a Hawkins dunk before Xavier re-gained the lead for the first time in over 11 minutes on the game clock when Sato connected from behind the arc to give XU a 40-39 lead at 8:28.
Polk answered with a three-pointer at 8:05 to give TU a 42-40 advantage it would not relinquish. Temple ran its lead to seven on three occasions before taking its largest advantage, 60-51, after a Collins three-pointer with 0:59 seconds remaining. A Hawkins free throw at :09 concluded the scoring and sent the Owls to their thirteenth A-10 final.
Sato led Xavier in the scoring column with 16 points. Naismith Award candidate David West contributed 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
Freshman Maurice Collins played the entire 40 minutes for the Owls and scored 10 points.
Temple held a 26-5 advantage in points off turnovers and a 26-12 buffer in points scored in the paint. Bench points totaled zero for both clubs, as the game's 10 starters were responsible for all 120 points scored in the contest.
