Temple University Athletics
Temple's Hot Streak Ends With 77-72 Loss At La Salle
2.14.07 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - Temple's red-hot perimeter shooting had to end at some point, and that it did at Tom Gola Arena on a bitter cold Wednesday night. The Owls (11-13, 5-6 A-10), who had connected on 50 percent from the field in six straight games, made just 43.3 percent against the Explorers (10-16, 3-9), and only six-of-28 from behind the arc, in falling for the first time in five outings, 77-72.
"I was more worried about this game than I was about the UMass game in terms of how you are prepared mentally," said Temple coach Fran Dunphy. "We did not play very well and I think La Salle deserves lot of credit."
The Owls' trio of sophomore Dionte Christmas (22.0 ppg.), senior Dustin Salisbery (17.2 ppg,) and junior Mark Tyndale (17.1 ppg.) entered the game with the second best combined average (56,3 ppg.) in the nation. When all three were on their games, Temple was nearly unbeatable. That was not the case in this contest.
Tyndale, who scored his 1000th point in Sunday's win over UMass, was the only part of the Temple trifecta to bring his "A" game. The 6-5 guard scored 15 of his career-high-matching 27 points in the first half to keep the Owls from being run out of the building. Tyndale connected on 12 field goals on a career-high 21 attempts while pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double over the last five games.
While Tyndale was thriving, Christmas and Salisbery were struggling.
Christmas, plagued with four troubles all night, missed his first five shots, and did not make a basket until the 3:09 mark of the first half. Christmas' struggles were nothing compared to Salisbery's. The 6- 5 guard missed all three first half shots and turned the ball over three times in the period.
"He still is very young and he forced a couple of shots," said Dunphy on Christmas. "Tonight I thought he tried to do too much and it cost him a little bit."
Remarkably, with two of their top guns firing blanks, the Owls only trailed, 39-36 at the half.
La Salle junior guard Darnell Harris (24 points), who was recovering from an ankle injury, drained one of his four three-pointers to give the Explorers a five-point lead, 53-48, with just under 15 minutes to play. Christmas, who finished with 16 points, then drained consecutive three-pointers in 30 seconds to jumpstart the Owls to a 12-0 run and a 60-53 lead at the 9:43 mark.
The Explorers, desperately needing a win to keep their A-10 Tournament hopes alive, scored 10 of the next 12 points with freshman Kimmani Barrett delivering two free throws to cap the run.
The lead changed hands over the subsequent three minutes until the Owls offense went on an untimely drought. Holding a 66-65 lead following a Tyndale slam with four minutes to play, the Owls would go scoreless over the next 3:42. The Explorers gradually pulled away, owing a 73-66 lead when Tyndale ended the Temple scoreless stretch with an uncontested length of the court lay-up.
It was too little too late for the Owls.
Christmas shot five-of-15 from the field (3-12 from 3pt range) and finished the game with 16 points, fouling out with 1:37 to play. Salisbery recovered from his first half to score 10 points on the second half, Senior Dion Dacons added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Temple made six more field goals and was a perfect eight-of-eight from the line. La Salle connected on 26 free throws on 34 attempts.
The Owls next travel to George Washington (15-8, 6-5) for a 2:00 p.m. Saturday contest.
