Temple University Athletics
COLLINS COMMANDS OWLS IN CLASSIC WIN OVER VILLANOVA, 53-52
12.4.04 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Big 5 celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a classic city-series game at The Palestra Saturday afternoon featuring one of the fabled league's bitterest rivalries, Temple-Villanova. After nine ties and 12 lead changes, sophomore Dustin Salisbery's three-pointer with just over one minute remaining put the Owls ahead for good, 53-50. Temple would then survive a frantic final 60 seconds to hold on for a 53-52 victory.
"Al McGuire used to call these white knucklers," said Temple coach John Chaney. "That is all you see here (Palestra) is white knucklers.
"Don't come here expecting to see high scoring games, nobody dies a natural death in this place it is always an unusual one."
The Owls' Hall of Fame coach has seen his share of Palestra pandemonium, especially against Villanova. Chaney had lost three of his previous four meetings at the historic arena, with three of those meeting being decided by four points or less.
Entering play, the teams had split 32 meetings at the Palestra, and 78 meetings overall. Even Chaney, who owns a 86-33 record against Big 5 opponents, was just 10-10 against the Wildcats prior to tip-off.
"It was a game that could have gone either way," explained Chaney. "Playing at The Palestra is the Third Rail. It is a tough place to try and coach because the players can not hear you."
Salisbery, who drained the game-winning three-pointer from the top of the key, came off the bench to tie for game scoring honors with 15 points. Mardy Collins, who backed into the lane before dishing it to an open Salisbery for one of his six assists, added 11 points. Freshman guard Mark Tyndale, who continued to struggle with his shot (4-13), also contributed 11 points for the Owls.
Curtis Sumpter, who missed a three-pointer at the buzzer, led Villanova with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Allan Ray added 11 points while Randy Foye chipped in with 10.
The game started with a Keith Butler emphatic slam dunk off a missed shot. Butler, who had been criticized by his coach for his play in the team's loss against Arizona State the previous outing, hit a free throw to convert the three-point play. Butler would end the contest strong as well, pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with his season-high seven points.
The Owls would increase the lead to 5-0 before Ray drained a trey for Villanova's first basket after six misses.
Both teams shot poorly in the opening stanza with Temple (9-28, 32.1%) hitting just a tad better than Villanova (10-36, 28.6%). Three-point shooting was worse with the Owls hitting just one-of-nine attempts (11.1%) and the Wildcats connecting on three-of-17 (17.6%).
Mike Nardi, normally solid from the perimeter for Villanova, was cold all night (2-12, 1-8 3PT).
The poor shooting contributed to an ugly first 20 minutes. Neither team reached double figures over the first 10 minutes of the contest. With Temple leading 16-15 after 15 minutes had elapsed, the Owls finally found offensive rhythm. Three straight baskets capped by a Wayne Marshall jumper provided the Cherry and White with their largest lead of the contest, 22-15.
Consecutive three-pointers by Nardi, a bank shot from the top of the key, and Foye closed the gap to one point, 22-21, with 1:48 to play in the stanza. The two teams traded baskets before entering their respective locker rooms with Temple up 24-23 at the half.
The second half started much the same as the first with neither team able to pull away. Another Butler follow dunk and a three-pointer by Tyndale lifted Temple to a six-point advantage, 33-27, with 14:46 to play. Villanova then went on its best run of the game, with Sumpter scoring seven points in a 9-0 run to give the Wildcats a 36-33 lead.
Villanova would extend its advantage to four points, 40-36, before the Owls would tie it on a Collins three.
The Temple co-captain then would take over the game.
"This was something I was thinking about since the last game," said Collins. "We had not been playing good down the stretch, I just wanted to make a good effort to finish the game off and that was what I did tonight."
Collins would be involved in all of Temple's final 10 points, scoring five and dishing two assists.He also had a key block on a Jason Fraser dunk attempt with 46 seconds to play.
It was his final assist, coming with 1:07 left to Salisbery, which mattered most.
"I think he did a good job," said Chaney on his point guard. "We set up what we call '14' and he flattened them out and had a chance to drive, but then he kicked it out to Dustin which was a big play for us."
"I am just glad that Mardy had the confidence in me to pass it," said Salisbery. "Sometimes somebody tries to take over the game by themselves, but this just shows the team chemistry that we have. That we play together. And I am glad that he passed it because I was wide open."
Following Salisbery's three-pointer, which made it 53-50 Temple, Villanova would launch three-pointers by Nardi, Ray and finally Sumpter at the buzzer -- all missing the mark. Sumpter hit two free throws with 11.6 second to play to cut it to 53-52, and his final three-point attempt would come after Tyndale missed the front end of a one-and-one with eight seconds to play.
For the game, Villanova (1-1, 0-1 Big 5) hit just five-of-26 from behind the arc (19.2%) and 19-of-61 (31.1%) for the game. Temple (2-3, 1-0) finished slightly better (21-59, 35.6%/4-16, 25%).
Temple will look to go 2-0 in Big 5 play when it hosts Penn at the Liacouras Center Wednesday night (8:00 p.m.). The Temple women's team will also host Penn Wednesday, playing the Quakers at 5:30 p.m. in the first of two men's-women's doubleheaders.
