Temple University Athletics
COLD SHOOTING DOOMS TEMPLE IN 67-53 LOSS AT RUTGERS
11.30.05 | Men's Basketball
-- What a difference a day makes! After shooting torrid 51 percent from the field in a 73-56 win over Miami Sunday, Temple could not have been colder Wednesday at Rutgers, hitting just 28 percent in falling to the Scarlet Knights, 67-53 at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. The loss spoiled a stellar night for senior forward Antywane Robinson, who scored a career-high 24 points on eight-of-15 shooting, including five-of-eight from long range.
Besides Robinson, the Owls (2-2) connected on just six-of-35 field goal attempts for a mere 17.1 percent. Even worse was the team's three-point shooting. Robinson made all five of the team's treys while his teammates failed to connect on 16 tries. Against Miami, the Owls hit 10-of-16 from behind the arc (62.5%).
"We had a little setback, "said Robinson. "Mardy and I were talking about how we did not want to have any setbacks after that win over Miami...We played pretty bad, but we stuck in there for the most part. We have to use this as a stepping stone and keep on moving."
All-America candidate Mardy Collins had one of his worst games as an Owl. The senior guard finished with 11 points, but did not hit his first field goal until converting a lay-up with 1:19 remaining. Besides shooting one-of-nine from the field (0-5 3PT), he committed an uncharacteristic six turnovers.
"He did not recognize that he is a target," said Hall of Fame coach John Chaney. "Wherever he goes they are going to double him."
Junior guard Dustin Salisbery was held without a field goal (six attempts) for the second time this season. Sophomore guard Mark Tyndale scored 14 points, making four-of-12 from the field and all six of his free throw attempts. He also led the Owls in rebounding with seven boards.
Rutgers junior guard Quincy Douby led all scorers with 27 points. Freshman guard Byron Farmer added 13 points for RU (4-1).
Despite their shooting woes, the Owls opened the game by taking a 18-6 lead at the midway point of the first half courtesy of solid defense and Robinson's three-point barrage. The Charlotte, N.C. native hit all five of his threes during this stretch. Little did anyone imagine that the Cherry and White would not drain another three-pointer the rest of the contest.
After a three-point play by Tyndale put the Owls ahead 21-11 with just under six minutes to play in the half, RU went on a 9-2 run to close out the stanza.with a steal and subsequent basket by Jimmie Inglis as time expired, giving the Scarlet Knights momentum heading into the locker room.
Three-pointers by Marquis Webb and Farmer at the start of the second half gave RU the lead at 26-24 with 18:24 on the clock. It was a lead the hosts would not relinquish.
Rutgers, who shot 52 percent in the second half, pushed the lead to eight, 37-29, but Robinson scored five points in a 9-2 TU run to cut the margin to one with 9:16 to play.
The Owls, however, had one of their dry spells, failing to hit a field goal for over seven minutes. By the time Tyndale converted a three-point play off a driving lay-up, the score was 55-45 with 1:43 left.
Douby made all six of his free throws to close the game out.
Temple, who entered the game having committed 13 turnovers over three games, coughed the ball up 12 times to Rutgers 10. On the positive side, the Owls had 15 offensive rebouinds and lost the battle of the boards by just one rebounds, 37-36.
"It is games like this that we used to win," said Chaney. "A good team finds a way. If we made our foul shots we win the ball game. We got nothing inside, absolutely nothing."
The Owls must now regroup quickly as they travel to the Palestra for a Saturday clash with Penn in the second game of the Philadelphia Big 5 Classic (2:30 p.m.).
