Temple University Athletics
OWLS MISS THE MARK IN FALLING TO RHODE ISLAND, 65-57
3.2.05 | Men's Basketball
KINGSTON, RI -- Temple played its second game without its Hall of Fame head coach Wednesday night when it took on the Rhode Island Rams at the Ryan Center. As much as the Owl players missed their leader, they missed the basket even more. The Cherry and White shot a dismal 18.5 percent in the first half, falling behind 32-18, and never recovered en route to a 65-57 loss.
"We tried just about every adjustment defensively," stated acting coach Dan Leibovitz. "We went to man and went to different zones. We just could not find an answer and we could not make shots. It is hard to get momentum and energy when you come up with empty trips."
For as bad as Temple shot, the Rams were red hot in the opening stanza. URI drained six-of-nine from behind the arc and 10-of-19 (52.6%) overall in the first half. The Rams quickly jumped out to a 9-2 lead, hitting their first three 3-pointers of the contest. They would later use a 10-1 run midway through the stanza to open up a 26-12 lead with just under seven minutes to play. Temple would not cut the margin below double figure again until a Mark Tyndale (10 points) lay-up in the final seconds of the contest.
"It is difficult because we are so used to having him on the sideline," said junior All-America candidate Mardy Collins on John Chaney's absence. "That still should not affect the way we play. He gives us a game plan at practice. We have some good assistant coaches so it should not affect the way we play basketball but we do miss him on the sidelines."
The Owls, which missed all12 of their three-point attempts in the first half, failed on their first two of the second stanza before DaShone Kirkendoll connected at the 14:29 mark to make the score 38-27. Temple hit five more three-pointers in the frame, but was never able to cut into the Ram lead. URI finally broke away with four minutes to play, going on an 8-0 run to open up its biggest lead, 63-44, with 1:58 to play.
The Owls closed out the contest by scoring 13 of the game's final 15 points.
Collins led the Owls with 18 points, but like his fellow backcourt mate Tyndale, hit just five-of-16 from the field. Starting guard Dustin Salisbery struggled even more, missing all nine of his shots, seven coming from behind the arc. Kirkendoll, the Owls' zone-breaker off the bench, hit just one-of-eight from the long range as the Rams zone defense frustrated the Temple offense.
Keith Butler (7 pts) and Wayne Marshall (9 pts) combined for 16 points and nine rebounds and made five of their six field goal attempts.
Rhode Island, which has struggled through an injury-plagued season to a 6-20 record, has now won two straight games for the first time, defeating the top two teams in the A-10 East. The Rams defeated Saint Joseph's, 65-60, on Saturday at the Ryan Center, handing the Hawks just their second league loss.
Scott Hazelton led four URI double-figure scorers with 20 points, hitting 12-of-14 from the free throw line.
Temple won the battle of the boards against the A-10's top rebounding team, 35-34. The Owls did that by grabbing 17 offensive rebounds.
Temple (14-12, 10-5), which clinched a first-round bye in the A-10 Tournament by virtue of Fordham's loss to Duquesne, will end its regular season Saturday at the Liacouras Center when it hosts La Salle (4:00 p.m./Comcast SportsNet/WPHT 1210 AM). That game will serve as Senior Day with senior Wilbur Allen being honored in a pregame ceremony.
