Temple University Athletics
Owls Honor Past When They Host Lafayette Thursday
12.26.06 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 26, 2006
PHILADELPHIA - Temple will honor its past Thursday night when it celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the University's first Final Four team, the 1955-56 Owls, at halftime of its game against the Lafayette Leopards. The Owls, 5-4, will be looking to rebound from a 69-54 loss to Drexel on December 22 while the Leopards, 6-7, have won five of their last six contests.
All 11 living members of the 1956 Final Four Team that posted a 27-4 record will be in attendance. All-America guard Hal Lear, who was named the Final Four Most Valuable Player, teamed with the late Guy Rodgers to lead Hall of Fame Coach Harry Litwack's squad. Lear, who scored 48 points to lift Temple to a third-place win over eighth-ranked SMU, finished his final collegiate season with a still-standing school record 745 points.
Joining Lear at the Liacouras Center for the Anniversary will be Fred Cohen, who still holds the NCAA Tournament record for rebounds in a game with 34 in a win over UConn, Big 5 Hall of Famer Jay Norman, Hotsy Reinfeld, Dan Fleming, John Granozio, Leon Smith, Fred Dobisch, Mel Brodsky, Bill Smith and Bernie Osherow. Team managers Charles Hulet and Frank Walker will also be honored as will Sports Information Director Al Shrier, who is currently in his 54th year as a member of the Temple University Athletics staff.
Sophomore guard Dionte Christmas continues to lead the Atlantic 10 Conference in scoring with a 20.8 average. Senior guard Dustin Salisbery (16.6 ppg.) and junior guard Mark Tyndale (12.0 ppg.) also score in double figures while senior forward Dion Dacons (6.9 rpg.) tops the squad in rebounding.
Matt Betley leads a balanced Lafayette scoring attack with a 10.8 average while Bilal Abdullah and Andrew Brown average 9.1 and 9.0 points, respectively. Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon served six years on Temple head coach Fran Dunphy's staff at Penn prior to taking over the Leopard program in 1995.
This is the first regular season meeting between the teams since the 1981-82 season when both programs were members of the East Coast Conference. The Owls have won 23 straight in the series, the last a 73-47 win over 15-seed Lafayette in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Lafyette's last win in the series came on Feb. 28. 1959, an 81-75 victory in Easton.
