Temple University Athletics
CHANEY, COLLINS REACH MILLENNIUM MILESTONES IN 48-46 WIN OVER PRINCETON
12.20.04 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA -- It was a night that head coach John Chaney and junior guard Mardy Collins will remember for a long time. Both reached millennium milestones, with Chaney coaching in his 1,000th game and Collins passing the 1,000th point mark, as Temple held off a fundamentally sound Princeton squad, 48-46, on Monday night at the Liacouras Center. Sophomore Dustin Salisbery prevented the Tigers from tying the score at the buzzer when he soared high above the rim to block a Will Venable layup as time expired. The finish was the sixth time in Temple's first nine games that the outcome was not decided until the final possession.
Chaney became the fifth active coach and 19th all-time to appear on the sidelines for 1,000 games, joining Lou Henson (New Mexico State), Bob Knight (Texas Tech), Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State), and Hugh Durham (Jacksonville). With the win, the veteran mentor now owns a career record of 712-288.
Looking back on his career that spans four decades and now 1,000 games, Chaney downplayed the numbers. "It's about names and faces, the people you meet. That's what it means to me."
Collins became the 41st Owl to reach the 1,000-point milestone with his three-pointer at the 19:29 mark of the second half. For the second straight game, the reigning Atlantic 10 and Big 5 Player of the Week led all scorers with 25 points and now has 1,012 points for his career. Next up for the co-captain is Jay Norman, who scored 1,024 points from 1955-58. The A-10 leader in steals (3.9 spg.) also managed to record four swipes, all coming in the second half.
Princeton put on a clinic offensively, attacking Chaney's match-up zone with sharp cuts and precision passing. Defensively, the Tigers (5-3) mixed a similar zone defense with occasional man-to-man to hold the Owls (4-5) to 34% shooting from the floor. But it was their offense that had Chaney singing their praises in the post-game press conference.
"Our kids will never see a game again like this," Chaney said. "They play basketball the way it's supposed to be played. You can't simulate it in practice. They beat you with their heads."
Freshman Mark Tyndale scored 11 points, despite making just one field goal. The Philadelphia native was 9-for-13 from the charity stripe, including two clutch makes with 42 seconds to go to put Temple up 47-43. Salisbery added six points, a team-high five rebounds, and one critical blocked shot.
Despite holding a significant height advantage underneath, the Owls were still out rebounded 29-24 for the game. Juniors Antywane Robinson and Keith Butler, along with sophomore Wayne Marshall, totaled 10 boards between them.
Neither team could get on track in the early going, combining to shoot 3-for-16 in the game's first eight minutes. A Collins three-pointer at the 18:30 mark was the only Owl field goal, who still held a 6-5 lead at the second media timeout. The Tigers were content to bomb away from beyond the arc against Temple's zone, as the first seven field goals the visitors attempted were from long range. Princeton only connected on a single trey-ball and a Venable layup accounted for its five points.
It took until the 7:30 mark for either team to get into double-digits as a senior Mike Stephens hook-shot gave Princeton a 10-8 lead. Temple scored the next four points on free throws by Tyndale and Marshall to take a 12-10 lead with just over five minutes to play in the half.
The two teams traded threes over the next three minutes, as a Collins triple was sandwiched by long-range buckets from Venable and freshman Noah Savage. Tyndale provided a highlight reel moment thirty seconds later, rising high for a thunderous dunk to give Temple a 17-16 lead with just over 90 seconds to play. The Owls outscored Princeton, 5-2, the rest of the way to take a 22-18 lead into the locker rooms.
Collins continued to cause havoc on both ends of the court, as Temple stretched its lead to 29-19 with 14:58 remaining. His three-pointer from the top of the key 30 seconds into the second half put him over the 1,000-point mark in his career. He also recorded two swipes early in the half that led to easy buckets to finish off a 12-3 run from late in the first stanza.
Temple kept Princeton at bay for most of the next nine minutes. After two Collins free throws put the Owls ahead 40-31, the Tigers scored on its next three possessions to cut it to a 40-38 Temple lead with 5:36 to play. Stephens deposited a lay-up, Savage hit his third triple, and Venable turned a steal into two points to quickly turn a nine-point Temple lead into just two at 40-38 with five minutes to go.
After the Tigers drew within two at the 3:59 mark, Collins helped the Owls build a cushion on a leaner and free throw to put TU up 45-40 with 1:30 to play. After junior Scott Greenman made a three to bring Princeton to within two, Tyndale connected on two free throws to stretch the lead to 47-43 with 42 ticks showing on the clock.
Greenman, a product of South Jersey's St. Augustine Prep, made another three-pointer from the wing to cut the Temple lead to the slimmest of margins at 47-46. Collins made 1-of-2 from the line to set up the final play. Chaney had the Owls match up on the perimeter, but Venable got a step on Collins on the left side of the lane and went up for the layup. Salisbery came from the weak-side and rose high in the air to swat the shot away and with it, any hope of overtime.
Venable and Savage scored 12 points to lead the Tigers and Greenman and Judson Wallace each netted nine in a balanced attack.
The Owls return to action on January 5, 2005, in the Atlantic 10 opener at Massachusetts. Game-time is set for 8 p.m.
