Temple University Athletics
Owls Reach Century Mark In 109-70 Drubbing Of Bonnies
2.7.07 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - The Temple men's basketball team has played nearly 2,600 games since debuting in 1894 and only three times have they scored more than 109 points. The Owls recorded their fourth-highest scoring total in program history and won their third game in a row, beating St. Bonaventure, 109-70, on Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center. For the fourth time in his past six games, sophomore Dionte Christmas scored 30 or more points to capture game-high honors. He finished with 31 on 12-for-18 shooting.
It seemed like only a matter of time before the Cherry and White would hit the century mark this season. Seven times, including tonight, have the Owls put up at least 45 points in the first stanza, reaching a high of 56 on Sunday against La Salle. But tonight the offense continued to play at a high level in the second half, scoring 62 points after halftime.
Spike Lee's character Mars Blackmon from the 1989 Nike Air Jordan commercials would have said "it's gotta be the shoes!" after Temple switched from its black adidas sneakers to the white model at halftime. Head coach Fran Dunphy may disagree, however, pointing to 65% shooting, a 28-7 rebounding edge and just three turnovers after intermission. It certainly helped that St. Bonaventure, which gave up 111 points to Duquesne in its last game, came into the game 12th in the Atlantic 10 in scoring defense (75.7).
"We're in a pretty good stretch where we've scored some pretty good numbers and we're shooting the ball pretty well, so we're confident offensively," Dunphy said.
The Owls have scored 80 or more points in their last four contests and are averaging 92.5 points per game over that stretch. The last time Temple scored 80 or more in four straight games was in February of 1989.
Senior Dustin Salisbery scored 21 points in just 21 minutes after missing most of the first half with a neck injury. Junior Mark Tyndale set a career-high with 16 rebounds, and chipped in with 16 points, as did senior Dion Dacons, who set a career-high with his 16 points and added 10 boards.
Temple took a 10-0 lead to start the game and never looked back in winning for the ninth straight time in the series. The Bonnies (6-17, 3-7 A-10) still are winless on North Broad Street, having lost 25 games to Temple in Philadelphia.
The four biggest cheers of the night came in the final three minutes. Freshman Luis Guzman, who produced an efficient line of four points, four assists and four rebounds in five minutes, hit a jumper to put the Owls over the century mark for the first time since a 110-70 win over Duquesne on February 4, 1988.
Fan favorite and sophomore center Anthony Ivory received a pair of eruptions after a low-post move and 16-foot jumper. And sophomore walk-on Brian Shanahan, celebrating his 22nd birthday, capped the late-game celebration with a three-pointer with 40 seconds remaining to finish the scoring for the hosts.
Temple has topped the 109-point mark two other times besides the win over Duquesne in 1988. Led by the high-scoring Bill Mlkvy, the Owls posted 111-36 (12/14/50) and 114-47 (12/17/51) victories over Glassboro State more than a half-century ago.
The hosts set several Liacouras Center records including points in a game (109), points in the second half (62), field goals (41) and assists (24).
Lost in the hoopla may have been the fact that Temple (10-12) is back near the middle of the pack in the muddled A-10 standings. Ten days ago, after falling to 1-5 in the league with a 96-92 loss at Duquesne, the talk was about simply making the conference tournament. Now after three-straight confidence building victories, the Owls are right back in the thick of things in a wide-open Atlantic 10.
Temples' 4-5 conference mark places keeps them in tenth place, but the Owls are just two games out of fifth. Sunday's game against Massachusetts will provide a stern test for the Owls, as the Minutemen scored an 88-77 victory earlier this season at the Mullins Center.
Tip-off is set for 2 PM on Sunday at the Liacouras Center with the first 2,000 kids 14 and under receiving a Temple replica jersey courtesy of the Philadelphia Credit Union. As with all home games for the remainder of the season, the game will be video streamed through Yahoo! Sports. The game will also be on 1210 AM WPHT.
