Temple University Athletics
Dayton Spoils Temple's Senior Night With a 73-65 Win
2.28.07 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - Temple seniors Dion Dacons and Dustin Salisbery's final game on the home hardwood was a disappointing one, as the Owls dropped a 73-65 decision to Dayton in their 2006-07 Liacouras Center finale Wednesday night. The Flyers used a tough man-to-man defense to possess the lead for the length of the contest and send the Owls to their fourth loss in five games.
"We could not have played any worse on offense or defense," said Dacons. "An all around terrible game."
"We stunk offensively off the bat," added Temple head coach Fran Dunphy. "We were selfish offensively early on and that led to easy baskets for them."
Despite struggling with questionable shot selection and a lack of rhythm all evening, Temple (12-16, 6-9) made things interesting in the late going. Trailing by 15 with five minutes to play, the Owls went on an 11-2 run to reduce the deficit to six points (64-58) after a Mark Tyndale three-point play with 1:23 on the clock. The Flyers answered the challenge, however, and ran their lead into double digits once again in the final minute before finalizing the eight point win.
Tyndale led the Owls in the scoring column with 19 points after tallying just two points in the opening half. Dionte Christmas and Salisbery also registered double figures, scoring 18 and 14, respectively. Tyndale played the entire 40 minutes, while Christmas spent just two minutes on the bench.
Dayton (17-11, 7-8) received a game-high 20 points off the bench from junior forward Norman Plummer, who was one of three Flyers in double digits. Norman's performance off the pine provided the visitors a staggering 40-10 advantage in bench points. UD also had a 43-35 advantage in rebounds, as Charles Little came up big, cleaning the glass a game-high 16 times. Tyndale led Temple with nine boards, as the Owls failed to produce a double-digit rebounder for the fourth straight game
The Flyers largest lead of the contest was 17 points, established after a Roberts jumper with 11:46 showing on the second half clock. After intermission, the visitors held a double-digit advantage for over 16 minutes of the last 20 minutes.
Temple shot 38.7 percent (24-62) from the field and made just seven-of-27 (25.9 %) attempts from behind the arc. Dayton connected on 40.4 percent (23-57) of its field goal attempts, while hitting on six-of-16 (37.5 %) shots from long range. The Flyers visited the charity stripe nine more times than the Owls and made 21-of-25 free throw attempts to help secure the win.
The game started off in sluggish fashion as the teams combined to make one of their first nine field goal attempts. When the whistle signaled the first media timeout at 15:30, the Owls had yet to connect from the field after missing their first four shots and trailing 6-2. With just a trio of free throws on the scoreboard, Temple finally snapped its field goal futility, comprised of eight initial misses, when a Christmas jumper registered a 9-5 score.
The first half wore on in frustrating fashion. Only seven of the contest's first 34 attempts from the field tweaked twine. In an effort to break the monotony and up the tempo, Dunphy removed center Sergio Olmos and returned to four guard lineup for a stretch. The team's pace improved and so did its shooting. Unfortunately for the home squad, Dayton also began to find more success and the visitors held a steady lead as the opening stanza wound to a close.
Contributing to Flyers' fortunes was their successful defense of Tyndale. Coming off a career-high 37 points four days earlier against Charlotte, the junior took his first shot at 5:48 and posted his first points on a slam dunk with 1:50 remaining before the break.
At intermission, Temple faced a 31-21 deficit after shooting 30.8 percent (8-26) from the field, while making just two-of-nine (22.2 %) attempts from behind the arc. Dayton made 35.5 percent (11-31) of its field goals, but was successful on five-of-eight (57.1 %) shots from long range. The Owls, whose first half point total marked their lowest of the season, committed 10 turnovers, while Dayton committed six.
Prior to the game, Dacons and Salisbery were honored for their contributions to Temple both on and off the hardwood. Former mentor John Chaney was on hand to take part in the introductions before an appreciative Cherry & White faithful.
"It was great to see a guy who recruited me, who gave me a chance as a freshman to play at Temple. To come back and show his support for our senior class. It was great," said Dacons.
"It was a surprise that Coach Chaney was here," added Salisbery. "We were hoping he would be here and he surprised us but I am glad he came because he is the guy that recruited us. Both of those guys have a say in my career. I love them like fathers and I am glad that I had a chance to play under Coach Dunphy and Coach Chaney."
"It was great to have John there," added Dunphy. "We talked yesterday and I was not sure he was going to be able to make it. He toughed it out. He had some (minor) surgery today. I am glad he was there for them.
I love those guys (Dacons/Salisbery) to death. They work hard. They are good people and they do what they need to do. I felt bad for them that we played so poorly on their last night at the Liacouras Center." Temple returns to the hardwood for its regular season finale this Saturday at Fordham. Tip-off is slated for 1:00 p.m. at the historic Rose Hill Gymnasium on the Rams' Bronx, N.Y. campus.
