Temple University Athletics
Owls Sizzle in Second Half, Snapping Skid With 80-59 Win At Richmond
1.31.07 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2007
RICHMOND, VA - Junior guard Mark Tyndale matched his career-high with 27 points and Temple scored the final 13 points of the contest to break open a close game en route to an 80-59 win over Richmond Wednesday night at the Robins Center. With the victory, the Owls (8-12, 2-5 A-10) snapped a three-game losing streak while the Spiders (5-16, 1-7) dropped their sixth straight and 12th of the last 13.
Tyndale, who scored 27 points for the second straight night, hit 11 of 12 shots from the field, including all six attempts from the field. As a team, the Owls were a blistering 29-of-43 from the field, and an incredible 15-of-20 in the second half.
Sophomore guard Dionte Christmas, who received 17 stitches to close a wound on his non-shooting hand Saturday, started and played all but two minutes in the game.
"It hurt a little bit, but I felt about 90 percent tonight," said Christmas. "The doctor said it would probably be ok to play the next game. My trainer (Steve Spiro) worked with me and it felt good yesterday in practice so I told coach it felt good. He said it (playing) was up to me. I said I will go out there and give you everything I have."
Spiro bandaged his wound and wrapped his hand tight as a glove with balck tape, allowing for the A-10's top scorer to play. The Owl sharpshooter, currently 12th in the nation in scoring, connected on six-of-10 from the field (4-8 from three-point range, in reaching his season scoring average with 21 points. He also dished a career-high eight assists as the Cherry and White topped the 20-assist mark (22) for the second straight game and fourth time this season.
"Twenty-two assists on 29 baskets is pretty good so we will take that," said Temple head coach Fran Dunphy. "Our offense, when were not turning it over we were pretty good."
The Owls were also a perfect 13-of-13 from the charity stripe, which was one of the reasons the team dropped a 96-92 decision at Duquesne,
Temple needed every one of its shots early on as it was again plagued turnover. The Owls made 60 percent of their shots (14-23) in the first half, but eight turnovers allowed the Spiders, who hit 52 percent in the stanza, to go into the locker room deadlocked at 36.
TU opened the second stanza by committing five miscues over the first three minutes. Temple's defense, which limited Richmond to just 31 percent second half shooting, clamped down until Dunphy inserted steady back-up point guard Chris Clark to run the offense.
"We were really atrocious in that first five-minute stretch of that second half," said Dunphy. "We were equal opportunity as everyone was contributing to the turnovers. Chris settled us a little bit."
Clark, who has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.22, had the offense clicking the rest of the contest. However, it was not until there was nine minutes remaining that the Owls started to pull away.
Leading 60-56, Christmas drained a 15-footer, and then followed by hitting three straight from the line after being fouled on a three-pointer. Following a Oumar Sylla free throw, senior Dion Dacons hit a runner in the lane off a Christmas feed to make it 67-57 with 5:57 to play.
Dan Geriot (11 points) made a jumper in the paint with 4:04 on the clock to cut it to 67-59, but that would be the last points that the Spiders would score. Free throws by Dustin Salisbery (15 points) brought the lead back to double figures, and then a 25-footer from Clark with 2:23 broke it open.
Tyndale, who had scored 10 straight Temple points in one stretch early in the second stanza, grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and fifth of his career.
"We are in danger of not making the Atlantic 10 Tournament," sad Dunphy. "This was a big game for us, a big game for Richmond It will be a big game for us against La Salle Sunday. We have put ourselves in a very precarious position and there is only one way to get out of it and that is work harder than the oppostition."
The Owls next host La Salle in a men's/women's doubleheader this Sunday. The men's game tips off at noon while the women, undefeated in A-10 play, take on Dayton at 2:30 p.m. It is Dollar Dog day at the Liacouras Center as well.
