Temple University Athletics
Temple Looks To Get Back To Winning Ways Wednesday At Richmond
1.30.07 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2007
RICHMOND, VA - The Temple men's basketball team will look to break out of one of its worst skids since joining the Atlantic 10 Conference Wednesday when the Owls travel to Richmond for a 7:30 p.m. contest. The Cherry and White (7-12, 1-5 A-10) have dropped three straight and eight of their last nine games.
Temple may have to get back to its winning ways without the services of the Conference's leading scorer, sophomore Dionte Christmas. The three-time A-10 Player of the Week honoree lacerated the webbing between his third and fourth fingers of his left hand in the final minute at Duquesne. The wound required 17 stitches to close leaving his status as questionable for the Richmond game. Christmas, who is averaging 21.4 points per game, scored 30 points in the loss to the Dukes to become the first Owl since Terence Stansbury (1983) to record three straight 30-point games at Temple.
Senior guard Dustin Salisbery is second on the team and 10th in the conference in scoring (16.6 ppg.) while junior guard Mark Tyndale, who scored a career-high 27 points at Duquesne, averages 16.2 points per game. Senior forward Dion Dacons (7.1 ppg.) is ninth in the A-10 in rebounding (7.2 rpg.) with sophomore guard Semaj Inge (4.7 ppg.) rounding out Temple's undersized starting five.
Richmond, under the direction of second-year head coach Chris Mooney, has won just two games since opening the 2006-07 season with three wins. The Spiders (5-15, 1-6) have lost five straight and 11 of their last 12 games. The lone win during that stretch was a 71-66 victory at St. Bonaventure.
Freshman Dan Geriot is the only Spider averaging double figures (11.9 ppg.) while freshman forward David Gonzalez ranks second in scoring (8.6 ppg.) while topping the team with a 3.6 rebound average.
Temple leads the series, 6-5, and has won the last two meetings.
