Temple University Athletics
COLLINS LEADS OWLS TO VENGEFUL VICTORY OVER VISITING UMASS
2.1.06 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA -- Revenge can be an ugly thing, just ask the Massachusetts men's basketball team. Temple, after suffering an embarrassing 60-34 loss in Amherst on Jan. 21, thoroughly dismantled the visiting Minutemen Wednesday evening at the Liacouras Center, holding their A-10 rival to nine first half points en route to a 76-47 victory.
Senior All-America candidate Mardy Collins scored a game-high 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting, his third consecutive straight game with 20 or more points. He was joined in double figures by senior forward Antywane Robinson and junior guard Dustin Salisbery, who scored 19 and 13 points, respectively. Sophomore guard Mark Tyndale grabbed a game-best 10 rebounds while contributing six points.
"They did it to us and we just wanted to do the same," said Collins. "It was nothing disrespectful. It was just out mindset."
The Owls made 11 steals, contributing to 17 Massachusetts turnovers, while out-rebounding the visitors by a 39-32 margin. Temple shot 39.4 percent (13-33) from the field and made 47.6 percent (10-21) of its three pointers. UMass made 37.5 percent (18-48) of its shots and 27.3 percent (6-22) from behind the arc.
Junior guard James Life was the only Minuteman in double-figures, scoring 19 points.
Temple (12-7, 5-3), which led by 25 points at the half, never let its advantage dip beneath 23 points after the break. Despite improved shooting by the visitors, the Owls realized their largest lead of the contest, 31 points (70-39), with 3:54 remaining after a Collins jumper.
Things started out poorly for Massachusetts (9-9, 4-4) and got progressively worse. The Minutemen made just one of their first eight shots and Temple grabbed six of the contest's first seven rebounds to jump out to an 8-2 lead. The Owls lead then steadily increased, courtesy of solid rebounding and poor shooting by the visitors. After Robinson brought the crowd to its feet on an alley-oop slam dunk off of a Collins pass to register a 12-2 score at 13:23, the rout was on.
UMass made just one of its opening 11 and two of its first 15 shots. Meanwhile John Chaney's famed match-up zone thoroughly befuddled the visitors, who were committing turnovers at a steady rate.
A Stephane Lasme lay-up with 8:56 remaining before the midpoint reduced the deficit to 20-5 and snapped a field goal drought of eight minutes for the Minutemen. Fortunately for the Cherry & White faithful, another drought ensued, and Temple extended its lead to 28-5 before a Rashaun Freeman jumper over five minutes later resulted in a 28-7 score.
The Owls scored six of the final eight points of the opening stanza and took a 34-9 lead into the locker room. UMass' first half scoring output set a building record for least points scored in a half. It was also the fewest points scored by a Temple opponent in a half since Rhode Island posted nine in the opening stanza in a 74-40 loss to the Owls in Kingston on February 5, 2000.
Temple shot 39.4 percent (13-33) in the first half, including a 41.7 percent (5-12) from behind the arc. Rhode Island made just 22.2 percent (4-18) of its field goals, and missed all eight of its three point attempts. The Owls also out-rebounded the visitors, 23-15, while clearing the offensive glass on 10 occasions. UMass committed 11 turnovers while the Owls had just one miscue prior to the midpoint.
Temple returns to the hardwood this Saturday in a 4:00 p.m. contest at Atlantic 10 and Big 5 rival La Salle. The match-up will mark the 98th all-time meeting between the schools, with the Owls holding a 60-37 advantage in victories. The game will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet.
