Temple University Athletics
XAVIER COMPLETES FURIOUS COMEBACK EN ROUTE TO ONE POINT SENIOR DAY VICTORY AT THE LIACOURAS CENTER
3.6.04 | Men's Basketball
Fresh from dropping a career-best 41 points on Massachusetts, Hawkins made a career-high eight three-pointers, falling one shy of tying the school record. He closed out his brilliant regular season with 664 points and stands at 11th-place on Temple's all-time single-season scoring list. The senior from Washington, D.C., scored 20 points or more in 23 games for an average of 24.6 points per outing.
Antywane Robinson scored 11 points and Mardy Collins added 10, while sophomore Keith Butler grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Temple. Butler closed out the season with 11.0 boards per contest in his last four games.
Xavier placed four players in double-figures in the scoring column as Romain Sato led the way with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Freshman forward Justin Doellman scored a career-high 16 points, including a 4-for-5 performance from beyond the arc. Anthony Myles added 15 points and nine rebounds.
Temple went up 54-38 after Hawkins hit a three-pointer with 14:31 to play. Xavier whittled Temple's lead down to 60-50 with 7:54 remaining before Doellman sank a three-pointer then fed Myles for a lay-up to bring Xavier to within five. A Sato dunk capped a 7-0 spurt and, after Butler made two foul shots, Chalmers hit back-to-back three-pointers to give Xavier a 63-62 lead.
Collins momentarily regained Temple's lead with a jump shot, but a two-handed slam by Sato energized the visitors for their final spurt. Hawkins sank a free throw to knot the game at 65-65. Collins rebounded a Myles miss at the other end, but missed a long jumper as the shot clock ticked away. Lionel Chalmers then fed Myles for a powerful two-handed dunk to grab a 67-65 advantage. Dedrick Finn extended the Xavier lead to three points with a free throw, but Robinson grabbed the rebound after Finn missed the second attempt.
Coming out of a Temple timeout, Hawkins drove to the left baseline and was fouled with 11.5 seconds on the clock. The senior nailed both attempts from the charity stripe to pull his Owls to within one, but Sato was perfect on two attempts from the opposite end of the court to put Xavier in front 70-67. Robinson tipped in a missed three-point attempt by Hawkins as the buzzer sounded to finish the game.
Temple, which shot 50.0 percent from the floor in the first half, closed the game by missing 16 of its last 19 shots. Xavier, on the other hand, torched the Cherry & White for 59.1 percent shooting in the second stanza.
Xavier jumped out to a 15-8 lead early on by hitting five of its first eight attempts from three-point range, including a 3-for-3 mark by Doellman. The Owls responded with a 10-2 spurt and took their first lead of the contest on a Hawkins fast break lay-up with 9:51 to play in the first half.
After a 9-3 run put the Musketeers back on top, Tyreek Byard hit back-to-back three-pointers as Temple regained the lead. Xavier scored the next four points to grab a 30-27 advantage, but Collins jumpers on consecutive possessions sparked a 9-0 Cherry & White spurt to put the hosts in front 36-30.
A Sato free throw cut the lead to 36-31, but Hawkins threw in his fifth three-pointer of the afternoon -- tying his previous season-high -- before time expired in the first half to send the Owls into the locker rooms with a 39-31 advantage.
Temple travels to Dayton this week for the Atlantic 10 Championships. By securing the East Division's second seed, the Owls earned a first-round bye and will play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 11 at approximately 9:00 p.m. Temple plays the winner of the West No. 3 seed (Richmond) versus the East No. 6 seed (Fordham), who play an opening round contest on Wednesday. As coach of the Owls, Chaney has won a total of six Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championships.
