Temple University Athletics
#6/5 WAKE FOREST ESCAPES WITH 67-64 WIN OVER TEMPLE
12.13.04 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA-- As sophomore Dustin Salisbery's desperation three-point attempt with two seconds remaining sailed awry, so did the hopes of a Temple upset over #6/5 Wake Forest, who escaped with a 67-64 win on Monday night at the Liacouras Center. The Owls battled back from a nine-point deficit with five minutes to play and closed to within one in the final minute. Junior Mardy Collins, the reigning Big 5 Player of the Week, was a dominant force on both sides of the ball, scoring 25 points and recording seven steals.
After two free throws from sophomore All-American candidate Chris Paul put Wake Forest ahead 58-49 with 5:40 to play, the Owls began to claw back. Sophomore Wayne Marshall, who finished with 11 points, scored six points during a 15-7 run that had Temple (3-5) within one at 65-64 with 37 ticks on the clock. An acrobatic tip-in by Salisbery on a Collins' air-ball three brought the crowd of 7,892 to its feet with just over a minute left and Marshall's short jumper had the Owls' faithful thinking upset.
After WFU called timeout, Temple was unable to steal the ensuing inbound play and was forced to foul. Taron Downey (seven points) sank both his free throws to put Wake on top 67-64 with 12 seconds to go. John Chaney called timeout to design a play for Salisbery, who was looking for his first triple of the night. Collins advanced the ball and ran a handoff to Salisbery, who forced a three up as time expired. The shot was off the mark and the Demon Deacons escaped with a victory.
"I think we're getting better," Chaney said. "It's a hard way to get better by playing the top teams like we are. Our coaches are doing a helluva job by demanding more and asking more from our players. I think its going to pay off down the line."
The Cherry and White imposed its will on the normally fast paced visitors. Wake Forest attempted a season-low 42 shots and was kept off-balance by a slew of Temple defenses, including Chaney's fabled matchup zone, man-to-man and a box-and-one. Collins had something to do with the inability to get into offensive set, as the Philadelphia native posted five or more steals for the third time this season. He also played the full 40 minutes for the fourth straight game and according to his head coach, outplayed his more highly-touted counterpart. He needs only 13 points to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career.
"Mardy took on an All-American player today (Paul)," Chaney said. "He outclassed and outplayed him, there's no question about it" Chaney said about his co-captain.
Paul did finish with nine points and eight assists. He and Wake leading scorer, Eric Williams, both did not start after showing up 90 seconds late to the team bus. Williams shook off a slow start to score a team-high 17 points, 11 of which came in the second half.
For Temple, the game was the second in three days against a ranked opponent. The Owls hung tough against #18 Alabama on Saturday in Tuscaloosa before falling 75-71. Chaney was especially proud of his team for its effort, noting that he worried that he overworked them following the loss just 48 hours prior.
"I brought them back at 2:00 p.m. to start looking at Wake Forest," Chaney said. "We caught a 7 a.m. flight, got back at 1 p.m and practiced until 5 p.m. You tell me my kids didn't show up today? I was afraid that I worked them too hard.
"To come back and play the way they played, that's unbelievable. That's my kind of basketball."
Wake Forest, meanwhile, had a nine-day layoff since defeating Richmond, 90-73, on December 4. The Demon Deacons had several days off early in the week and recently finished their final exams.
After a Justin Gray three-pointer opened the scoring at the 18:15 mark, Temple scored the next six points to go into the first media timeout leading, 6-3. Collins scored four points in the early going, including a thunderous two-handed slam after jumping into the passing lane on a Demon Deacon pass. Collins, who recorded six swipes on Saturday at Alabama, was just as active on the defensive end. He was officially credited with two steals in the first four minutes, but had his handed on several Wake passes.
Prosser inserted Paul and Williams following the timeout and the pair made an immediate difference for the visitors. The Demon Deacons scored the next seven points, highlighted by an alley-oop from Paul to Jamal Levy. Paul then canned a wide-open three from the wing to give Wake Forest a 10-6 lead. Collins ended the run with a fadeway from 17-feet and sophomore Wayne Marshall worked a pick-and-roll for a bucket to give TU an 11-10 lead at the 11:56 mark.
After a Downey three put Wake ahead 13-11, Temple went on a 13-4 run, thanks in part to the inspired play of Collins. The junior scored four more points on the spurt and set up two trifectas from Robinson that brought a near capacity crowd to its feet after Prosser was forced to call a timeout with Temple leading 24-17.
The move worked nearly to perfection as WFU bounced back with a run of its own. The Demon Decons switched to a 2-3 zone on defense, stifling the Owl offense, and mixed in dunks by Williams and Danelius with a Gray three to cut the Temple lead to just one at 27-26 with 2:42 to play.
Chaney was then hit with a technical foul after arguing what he believed was a travel with just over a minute to play. Paul connected on one-of-two from the line and Gray, who was fouled on the earlier play, made both of his foul shots to give Wake its first lead since the 10:42 mark at 29-27. Salisbery, who had been held scoreless up to that point, spun off his defender and banked an 18-footer with the shot clock expiring. He also drew a foul on the play and his free throw gave Temple a 30-29 going to the locker rooms.
The two teams traded baskets for the first 10 minutes of the second stanza. The Owls took a 42-39 lead on a Salisbery fast break lay-up off another Collins steal with 11:32 to play. For the next two minutes, it was all Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons went on an 11-1 run with the backbreaker being a fastbreak jam by Trent Strickland that gave Wake its largest lead of the game, 50-43, with 9:03 to play.
Temple was looking for its first win over a ranked opponent since March 14, 2003 when it defeated #10 Xavier, 63-57, in the A-10 Tournament. The last ranked win on the Liacouras Center floor was on December 28, 2002 in a 71-64 win over #10 Indiana.
The Owls return to action next Monday when they take on Princeton at 7 p.m. at the Liacouras Center.
