Temple University Athletics
COLLINS LAST SECOND LAY-UP LIFTS MEN'S BASKETBALL OVER DAYTON
1.18.06 | Men's Basketball
DAYTON, OHIO -- Mardy Collins did what All-Americans do -- call for the ball with the game on the line and make the shot. The 6-6 point guard took a hand-off from Mark Tyndale at the top of the key and drove in for a lay-up in traffic with 0.9 seconds to play lifting Temple to a 53-51 win over Dayton at UD Arena Wednesday night. The win was the Owls third in a row and upped their record to 9-6, 3-2 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Dayton lost for the seventh straight time and is now 8-10, 0-4.
"Before Coach (Chaney) drew up the play, he called a play for me to hand it off to Antywane (Robinson)," said Collins, who tied for game-high honors with 16 points. "I looked at him like, 'hand it off to Antywane', I wanted to take the shot. When we came back in after the referees added time (to the clock), he asked me to change the play."
"That is time when I want the ball. I want to take the last shot."
Collins' winning basket came after Dayton tied the game on a 25-foot three-pointer by sophomore guard Brian Roberts (14 points) with 13.1 remaining. The clock never stopped after the made basket which is why lead official Joe DeMayo added time, allowing for the play to be run.
"It worked perfect," said Chaney on the play he dubbed as the Chaney play. "We practice it from time to time...Luckily we had enough time."
"When you run special plays, many times if it's executed perfectly, the shot is missed," he added. "But you only need it to work in one time to win one game."
Temple took a 24-21 lead at intermission following an ugly first half marred by eight Temple turnovers. Junior guard Dustin Salisbery led the Owls with 10 of his 16 points in the stanza. He scored the final seven TU points to spearhead a 7-2 run that gave the Cherry and White the lead.
The Owls would not trail the remainder of the contest.
The second half started as badly for the Owls offensively. Temple missed its first seven shots, but the Flyers were not able to capitalize. A lay-up by Salisbery followed by a steal and dunk by Collins at the 14:15 mark gave the Owls a 29-24 advantage.
Salisbery, however, hit his upper left arm on the scorer's table on a steal attempt the next possession and had to leave the game. He returned two minutes later, but made only one basket the rest of the way.
Dayton knotted the game at 29 on a Marques Bennett lay-up, the first of four ties in the period. Temple, however, was up for the challenge.
A Collins lay-up regained the lead for the Owls, and then Robinson (12 points) took over.
The senior forward, who struggled with his jumper in the first half (0-4) was red-hot. He drained back-to-back treys, giving the Owls their biggest lead, 37-30, with 9:30 to play. Dayton whittled away at the deficit, finally tying the score at 43 on a Roberts lay-up with 3:39 left. The teams traded three-pointers, one by Robinson and one by Monty Scott (16 points), to make it 46-46 with 1:50 on the clock.
Another Robinson three, his fourth in five attempts in the half, gave Temple a 49-46 lead, and then the Owls had to rely on their Achilles heel -- foul shooting.
Temple, who entered play as the worst foul-shooting team (60.7%) in the conference, made just seven-of-14 attempts overall, and two-of-five in the final 37 seconds. That ineptitude allowed the Flyers to tie the game at 51, setting up the final play.
Temple now travels to UMass for a nationally-televised game against the Minutemen on Saturday (2:00 p.m.). It will also be Chaney's 74th birthday and the legendary coach would like only one present -- a win.
