Temple University Athletics
DAYTON TOPS TEMPLE IN MEN'S BASKETBALL, 60-56
1.10.04 | Men's Basketball
The Flyers, 12-3, 2-0, took a 32-23 halftime lead with reserves Monty Scott (20 points) and Warren Williams (16), accounting for 21 of UD's points. Dayton shot 12-of-21 from the field in the period (57.%) and six-of-13 (46.2%) from three-point range in the frame.
Temple, 4-7, 0-2, caught fire in the second half behind Hawkins, who nailed five three-pointers in the period. Dustin Salisbery (13 points), tallied 11 in the second half, hitting three-of-four from long range.
"I was happy with the way we came back," stated Hall of Fame coach John Chaney. "I thought Dayton was ready to crack if we went ahead of them. I felt pretty good about getting close to them and making them sweat a little bit."
Dayton started off the second half by scoring the first five points to quickly extend its lead to 14, 37-23, with 17:51 to play. The teams traded baskets for the next four minutes until another 5-0 spurt, capped by a Ramond Marshall three-pointer, gave UD its biggest lead of the contest, 51-34, with 11:17 left.
Hawkins then hit two quick treys to cut the deficit back to 11 points and quiet the Flyer crowd which was doing "the wave" at one point in the second half. Again the teams punched and counterpunched until a Scott jumper at the 7:08 mark upped the margin to 14, 57-43. It looked as if the Flyers were going to coast to the victory at that point.
The Owls, however, were not ready to go away. After a Temple timeout, Salisbery buried a three-pointer and then drove the lane for a lay-up to cut the deficit to nine. Another Hawkins' trey pulled Temple to within six, 57-51, with 5:04 to play. Both teams had empty possessions until Keith Butler (6 points) put a follow shot in to make it 57-53 with 3:08 remaining.
Hawkins then stole the ball off of Scott and drilled another three-pointer to cap the team's 13-0 run and bring the Owls to within a single point, 57-56, at the 2:32 mark.
"We finally made the run when we made some stops," explained Chaney. "But we did not make any stops earlier, other than the two big boys (Finn, Waleskowski) I think they scored seven points between them."
Senior forward Keith Waleskowski, who scored only three points on the day, made one-of-two free throws to end the Flyers six-and-a-half minute drought to make the score 58-56. Sophomore Mardy Collins, who continues to be mired in a shooting slump (3-13 FGs), missed a 10-foot jumper from the right wing on the subsequent possession. Butler grabbed one of his team-high nine rebounds, giving the Owls another shot. Hawkins then had a lay-up blocked, but UD could not capitalize as seven-footer Sean Finn (14 rebounds) missed a breakaway lay-up with 37 seconds on the clock.
After Temple's final timeout, Hawkins was fouled on a drive by Marshall. The senior captain, a 79 percent free throw shooter entering the game, missed the front end of a one-and-one with 18 seconds remaining. Scott, who played a near flawless game off the bench for first-year coach Brian Gregory, sealed the win with two free throws with nine seconds on the clock.
So the Owls will now have to regroup for a two-game homestand against two of the tougher Atlantic 10 Conference teams, Rhode Island (12-3, 1-0) and Richmond (8-7, 1-2). Temple will battle the Rams first on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. (CSN/WPHT 1210 AM) with the Spiders coming to town on Saturday night (7:30 p.m./CN8/WPHT 1210 AM).
