Temple University Athletics
Salisbery's Career-High 34 Points Leads Temple To 76-71 Win Over Western Michigan
12.5.06 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2006
PHILADELPHIA - Dustin Salisbery scored a career-high 34 points and Dion Dacons grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds to lead Temple to a 76-71 win over Western Michigan Tuesday evening at the Liacouras Center. Both seniors spent the entire 40 minutes on the hardwood to help provide the Owls their third consecutive victory and up the team's record to 3-2.
"I said to Dion I don't think he can play any better," said Temple head coach Fran Dunphy. "He did some things that were terrific tonight. He got every tough rebound we needed to get. He guarded well and covered for other people's mistakes - and God knows we made enough of them. I just thought he was tremendous.
"Dustin, well he was Dustin. He is a brilliant athlete, a talented guy. He was posting was 12, 15 feet away, which is not part of or game plan, but at some point you just let him go as our offense was not getting us good shots. They were great tonight."
Sophomore guard Dionte Christmas complemented the veteran duo well, scoring 21 points, including 17 in the second half. The Philadelphia native, who suffered from flu-like symptoms prior to the game, was key during a six-minute second half stretch in the latter stages of the second half, when the Owls outscored WMU 18-6 to capture the momentum and ensure the win. During that stretch, which began with the Owls' trailing 52-45 and ended with them leading 66-58, he scored 12 points and had two steals.
"Dionte was very energetic in the second half," said Dunphy. "He had not been feeling well the last couple of days. When his motor gets going that is pretty impressive."
Things did not go the Owls way after intermission. Western Michigan (3-5) scored 12 of the initial 14 points after the break to take a 41-32 lead with 15:04 remaining. Despite the persistent hustle of Salisbery and Dacons, Temple was unable to reduce the deficit and the home crowd grew uneasy with the Owls trailing 50-42 with 10:32 on the clock. Dunphy then decided to up the tempo and instituted an aggressive press. The tactic proved effective and the Owls took control. With Dacons banging the boards and Salisbury and Christmas bringing the buckets, Temple took a lead (58-56) it would never relinquish with 6:50 to go and cruised to victory.
"Every team goes on a run, and that is what we did," said Salisbery. "Coach preaches at practice to keep our composure at times like that and we just took our time and worked out way back into the game."
The Owls established their largest lead, 11 points (75-64), with 0:30 seconds on the clock, capping a 19-8 run.
Temple shot 46.6 percent (27-58) from the field, including 36.8 percent (7-19) from behind the arc. Western Michigan made just 38.3 percent (23-60) of its field goal attempts and posted a 36.0 percent (9-25) mark from long range. Senior guard Shawntes Gary led three Broncos in double figures, posting 18 points.
The game began in sluggish fashion as the teams combined to miss the contest's first four shots. With the score just 4-3 in WMU's favor at 14:32, Donald Lawson stepped to the line with the teams shooting a combined three-of-15 and missed the pair. Salisbury answered the miscues with a three-pointer before Chris Clark deposited another trey to give the home squad a 9-4 advantage on a trio of threes.
Salisbery continued to assert himself on the offensive end early, as the Owls proceeded on a 12-3 run to take a 15-5 lead, their largest advantage of the opening half. The Broncos answered Temple's run with a burst of their own, moving to within a point, 17-16, on a John Workman three at 7:42.
A loose, back-and-forth style of play continued toward the close of the half. WMU knotted the score at 29 at 1:01, before Salisbery provided the final points of the opening stanza on a free throw to give the Owls a 30-29 advantage at the midpoint.
"By far one of the most physical teams we have played," said Dacons, who played the full 40 minutes for the first time in his career.
The Owls shot 44.4 percent (12-27) from the floor, including 40 percent (4-10) from behind the arc, in the first half. The Broncos made just 35.5 percent (11-31) of their field goal attempts, but posted a 45.5 mark (5-11) from long range. The teams combined to commit 21 turnovers prior to the intermission, including 11 by the visitors.
The win gives Temple a 2-0 series advantage over Western Michigan, with the prior victory occurring in 1944 (55-51). The contest was the third of four games this season the Owls will play against Mid-American Conference foes.
Temple returns to the hardwood this Saturday versus Cincinnati at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J, the site of this season's Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Tournament. The contest will tip-off at 4:00 and will be televised live on CN8.
