Temple University Athletics
Kent State Downs Temple, 63-54, To Spoil Dunphy Debut
11.21.06 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2006
KENT, OHIO - Junior forward Mike Scott scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half to lead Kent State to a 63-54 win over visiting Temple Tuesday night at the M.A.C. Center spoiling the debut of Owls' first-year coach Fran Dunphy. Senior guard Dustin Salisbery led all scorers with 23 points while sophomore guard Dionte Christmas added 12 points and junior guard DaShone Kirkendoll notched a career-high 11 points off the bench.
"I liked the first half and didn't like the second half," said Dunphy, who saw his team relinquish a 10-point halftime lead. "I thought we did some really good things defensively in the first half. I thought, as most good teams will do, they made some pretty good adjustments defensively in the second half, and then we were not very good help defensive-wise and we were not very good rebounding the basketball in the second half.
"We did some things that we can not do if we are going to be a good basketball team, but again we played a good basketball team with an unbelievable history over these last eight years (2002 Elite Eight)."
The last Division I team to open its season, Temple (0-1) looked sluggish offensively at the start. With four new starters, including three players senior forward Dion Dacons, sophomore guard Semaj Inge and sophomore center Sergio Olmos who combined to average 2.4 points per game last season, the Owls failed to score on their first five possessions, missing two shots and committing three turnovers.
Still, due to a solid man-to-man defense that Dunphy has instilled, the score was just 4-0 at the first media timeout. Salisbery then started to find the range, scoring seven of the team's points in a 10-4 run that lifted the Owls to their first lead, 10-8, with 11:29 to play. The 6-5 Lancaster, Pa. native capped the run with a monster slam off an alley-oop from junior guard Chris Clark.
The teams traded baskets over the next four minutes until the Owls ran off 13 straight points over a five-minute stretch to take a 26-15 lead with just over three minutes left in the half. Salisbery, Kirkendoll and Christmas each drained three-pointers in the run with Christmas hitting a cutting Ryan Brooks on a nice pass for a reverse lay-up.
KSU's Julian Sullinger scored four quick points to cut the margin to seven, but Christmas drained a deep three off a Kirkendoll assist to give Temple a 29-19 lead at the break.
The Golden Flashes (4-1), who were playing their fifth game of the season, jumped right out at the start of the second half led by the play of Scott. The team's leading scorer entering the contest (11.5 ppg.), Scott scored six points to cut the margin to 31-25 in the first two minutes of the stanza, then added a slam dunk to cap an 8-0 run that cut the KSU deficit to one-point, 34-33, at the 15:40 mark.
The teams traded baskets with Kent taking a brief 40-39 lead off a Rodriguez Sherman lay-up. Brooks gave the Owls the lead back on the next possession with a basket and then Kirkendoll drained another long trey to make it 44-40 with 10:24 on the clock.
Following a Salisbery three-pointer that put the Cherry and White ahead 50-47, Inge, who played a solid floor game, committed his fifth foul with 7:27 remaining. KSU would then go on a 12-2 run to take a 59-52 lead with 48 seconds to play. A Salisbery basket cut the margin to five with 35 seconds on the clock, but Kent closed the game out with two free throws by Scott and a Haminn Quaintance (13 points, 11 rebounds) slam.
Not surprisingly rebounding hurt the undersized Owls as the Golden Flashes controlled the backboards to the tune of 42-20. Dion Dacons, who at 6-6 played most of the game in the paint, led Temple with four rebounds over a career-high 35 minutes. Dacons also drew two offensive charges.
"As a young team, we just need to learn how close out a game," Salisbery said. "At times we lost our composure. I am not satisfied with the loss, but I am satisfied with the way we played."
Dunphy did like some of the things his young squad was able to accomplish in its first outing.
"We shot it well in stretches. We ran our offense well in stretches,"Dunphy said. "I thought we were good defensively in stretches but for our first game it looked like it, especially in the second half. It looked like we were not sure who we were and we obviously we are going to get a little bit of that but we have to figure out how we are going to get better each time out."
Temple returns to the Liacouras Center following the Thanksgiving holiday to open a four-game homestand with Buffalo on Monday, November 27 (7:00 p.m./WPHT 1210 AM).
