Temple University Athletics
Owls Look For Second Road Win Tuesday Night at Ball State
12.19.06 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2006
MUNCIE, IN - For the second straight game the Temple Owls face an opponent for the first time in the program's 112-year history. This time the Cherry and White will play the Ball State Cardinals at John E Worthen Arena Tuesday night (7:00 p.m./WPHT 1210 AM). It is the fourth and final game of the season against a Mid-American Conference foe. Part of a scheduling agreement made when Temple joined the MAC for football, the Owls are 1-2 so far against Mid-American Conference teams this season.
Fran Dunphy's Owls are coming off their first road win of the season, a 75-70 victory at Towson Saturday. That game marked the return of junior guard Mark Tyndale, who was academically ineligible for the first six games of the season. Tyndale returned to score 14 points and grab eight rebounds while playing 24 minutes off the bench. Sophomore guard Dionte Christmas, named Big 5 co-Player of the Week, led Temple with career highs of 29 points and five assists while senior Dustin Salisbery posted his first double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds) since game five of his freshman season.
Christmas continues to lead the Atlantic 10 Conference in scoring with a 21.7 average while Salisbery, at 18.0 points per game, is tied for fifth in the league. Overall, Temple leads the A-10 in field goal percentage defense (.365), three-point field goal percentage defense (.259), assist/turnover ratio (1.19) and fewest turnovers per game (12.0).
Ball State, under the direction of first year head coach Ronny Thompson, improved to 4-6 Saturday with an easy 61-40 win over Valparaiso. The win upped the Cardinals record at Worthen Arena, the toughest place to play in the MAC, to 4-1 on the season. BSU is 167-47 (.780) overall in the building. Sophomore forward Anthony Newell and senior forward Skip Mills lead a balanced Cardinal attack with 11.8 and 11.4 scoring averages, respectively.
