Temple University Athletics
Men's Basketball Downs Bowling Green, 72-55
11.24.07 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, OH - Temple's One-Two punch of Dionte Christmas and Mark Tyndale combined for 39 points and the Owls' second half defensive switches helped to lift the Cherry and White to a 72-55 win over host Bowling Green Saturday afternoon. Temple improves to 2-3 with its second straight win while Bowling Green (3-2) saw its three-game win streak come to an end.
With the score deadlocked at 31 to start the second half, the owls came out blistering on both ends. Offensively, Temple made 15 of 22 from the field (68.2%), including four-of-nine from behind the arc. On the defensive end, the Cherry and White held the Falcons to 32 percent from the field and a dismal one-of-10 from three-point range.
"We changed defenses a couple of times in the second half - went zone, and that seemed to help us," said Temple head coach Fran Dunphy.
Temple played straight man defense in the first half and could not get separation from an improved Bowling Green club which had posted a win at Cincinnati to start the season. The Owls also had no answer for Nate Miller, who scored 15 of the Falcons' 31 first half points.
"Miller hurt us greatly in the first half," said Dunphy. "He was difficult to defend as he got a lot of his points off dribble penetration. We switched a lot on him (in the second half) and tried to help on him a little more."
The Falcon forward started the second half with a lay-up to give Bowling Green what would end up being its only lead of the period, 33-31. Christmas, who led the Owls with 20 points, buried a three-pointer with Tyndale and sophomore guard Luis Guzman, who made his first career start, followed with jumpers to give Temple a 38-33 lead.
After the teams traded baskets on the next few possessions, the Owls went on a 13-2 run with Christmas converting a four-point play after being fouled on a 25-footer. That made the score 53-39 with 10:39 to play.
Bowling Green could not get closer than 12 points the remainder of the contest as the Owls' defensive switches, which included two-three and one-three-one zones, frustrated the Falcons.
Tyndale played his most complete game of the young season, scoring 19 points on seven-of-13 shooting (1-1 3pt), tying for team honors with eight rebounds and dishing a team-high six assists. Freshman Lavoy Allen added 10 points while pulling down eight rebounds and dealing three assists. Christmas, who made six-of-11 from the field (3-7 3pt), helped the Owls win the battle on the glass (36-34) with seven caroms.
Guzman matched his career high with four assists against two turnovers while establishing a new career high with 26 minutes played. Senior Chris Clark came off the bench to connect on a trio of three-pointers for nine points.
Temple concludes it Mid-American Conference road trip with a Monday night game at Akron (7:00 p.m./1210 AM WPHT).
