Temple University Athletics
FORDHAM SPOILS TEMPLE'S SENIOR DAY WITH A 69-52 WIN
3.5.06 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA - Fordham snapped a 34-game losing streak in Philadelphia and spoiled Temple's Senior Day festivities in posting a 69-52 win over the Owls Sunday afternoon at the Liacouras Center. The win gives the Rams (14-15, 9-7) the sixth seed in the conference tournament while the Owls (15-13, 8-8) will be seeded ninth. Temple will face Rhode Island, a team it lost to on March 1 (74-66), at noon on Wednesday to open the tournament which will be held at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati.
Fordham, who last won in the City of Brotherly Love in 1990, never trailed in the contest. The Rams scored the game's first nine points and extended their lead to 12 points, 30-18, with 1:49 to play courtesy of a 8-0 run. The Owls then scored the final eight points of the half, the last three coming on a 40-foot heave by junior forward Dion Dacons.
Dacons was the lone bright spot for John Chaney's squad. The frontcourt reserve scored a season-high seven points while grabbing a career and game high 11 rebounds. He also matched his career high in minutes played with 30.
The Owls used the momentum garnered by Dacons' trey to tie the game at 31 on a three-point play by Antywane Robinson, one of three Owl seniors playing in their final home contest.
The Rams, however, had the answer, in the form of Marcus Stout. The sophomore guard scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in a 16-0 run to give Fordham a 47-31 lead with 12:44 to play. Temple never recovered, managing to cut the lead under double figures just once the remainder of the contest, 47-38, on a Dacons tip-in with just under seven minutes on the clock.
Sophomore Bryant Dunston (16 points) then scored five points in an 8-0 run to push Fordham's advantage to 17 points (55-38) with 4:30 left and ice the contest.
Senior Day was not a happy one for Mardy Collins. The normally stellar Owl point guard was off his game, tallying just nine points on four-of-13 shooting. The Owls' other senior, Nehemiah Ingram, who started in place of the injured Dustin Salisbery (back), played just four minutes while fighting through an illness.
Temple, who entered the game shooting 44.8 percent at home, hit just 17 of 60 shots (28.3%) from the normally friendly Liacouras Center rims. The 52 points were 18 below the team's home average.
The was Fordham's second in a row against Temple after snapping a 19-game win streak against the Owls last year at Rose Hill Gym.
Temple now heads into the A-10 Tournament with an uphill battle. The Owls possess their lowest seed in their 24 years in the conference, and have lost their last three contests.
