Temple University Athletics
MEN'S BASKETBALL CLOSES STRONG IN 74-70 OVERTIME WIN OVER LA SALLE
2.25.04 | Men's Basketball
Collins, who improved his career best streak of double figure games to 13, tallied 11 of his 16 points after intermission. The 6-6 lead guard struggled in the first half and was uncharacteristically substituted for early in the contest.
Senior All-America candidate David Hawkins led all scorers with a quiet 26 points while playing all 45 minutes. Fighting a box-and-one defense the entire game, Hawkins hit on nine-of-17 from the field, and four-of-10 from three-point range. He tied for game honors with five assists, but was charged with seven turnovers -- the most by any Temple player this season.
The Owls had four players reach double figures as freshmen Tyreek Byard (14 points) and Dustin Salisbery (11) contributed to the balanced attack. It marked another career high in scoring for Byard, who has now scored in double figures in three straight games.
It also was the fourth time this season that Temple had four players score double figures. The Owls are a perfect 4-0 when that happens.
Temple also won for the 34th straight time when out-shooting its opponent. The Owls connected on 46.6 percent (27-58) of their attempts to the Explorers 41 percent (25-61). Temple is now 7-2 when shooting over 40 percent from the field this season.
The game did not start off well for John Chaney's squad. La Salle jumped out to an early 9-3 lead by the first media timeout and then extended it to a 12-point margin, 23-11, with just under nine minutes remaining in the half. The two teams then traded baskets before the Owls went on a 15-2 run, capped by a Collins' trey at the buzzer, to take a 28-27 lead into the locker room.
With momentum in their favor, it looked like the Owls would roll over the Explorers, which have struggled through an injury-plagued season. That was not to be the case as La Salle went on a 14-7 run to open the second half, taking a 41-35 lead with 13 minutes to play.
Temple took a brief one-point lead, 49-48, following a 14-7 run that was capped by a Collins jumper at the 7:18 mark. Gary Neal, who tallied his 1,000th career point for La Salle, drained a three-pointer to give the Explorers a 51-49 lead, but Collins then hit a jumper to deadlock the game at the 6:18 mark.
Then La Salle took control. First Rasheed Quadri connected on a three-pointer and then he stole the ball from Hawkins at mid-court and dished to a breaking Mike Cleaves for a lay-up (and free throw) to give LSU a 57-51 lead. Two free throws by Steve Smith made it 59-51 with 3:57 remaining, and it looked like that was all she wrote.
But back-to-back "threes" by Hawkins and Salisbery quickly got Temple back into it and then Collins tied it at 59 with a 1:11 to play.
Keith Butler, who grabbed a team-high eight boards, came up with a huge block on Cleaves to give Temple the final possession. Collins' jumper in the lane fell short and the Owls went to their first overtime of the season.
La Salle took an early 63-59 lead in the first minute of the extra frame. But a slam by Collins and then a three-pointer by Antywane Robinson gave Temple the lead for good, 64-63. Collins followed with a three-pointer to increase the margin to four, 67-63, with under two minutes remaining. Neal hit a free throw to make it a one-possession game, but an emphatic slam in traffic by Hawkins in which he was fouled, gave TU a commanding 70-64 lead with 42 seconds to play. With that, the crowd started to filter out.
Hawkins and Byard sealed the deal at the free throw line and Temple moved to within a game of clinching second place in the A-10 East.
The Owls now will play the final three regular season games in the friendly confines of the Liacouras Center. Next up is Fordham on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. That game will feature a commemorative John Chaney 700-win poster given to the first 4,000 fans that enter the arena. It will also be shown on Comcast SportsNet and can be heard on WPHT 120 AM.
