Temple University Athletics
Second Half Comeback Spoiled As Men's Basketball Drops A-10 Opener To Charlotte, 60-58
1.12.08 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NC - Temple overcame a 17-point first half deficit at Charlotte to take a three-point lead with two minutes remaining. The Owls, however, could not overcome eight points by senior guard Leemire Goldwire in the final 1:21 as the 49ers took the Atlantic 10 Conference game at the Halton Arena, 60-58. In the A-10 opener for both teams, Temple falls to 6-8 while the Charlotte improves to 10-5.
"It would have been a fantastic win for us, to be down as far as we were and find a way to get back the lead," said Temple coach Fran Dunphy. "We missed a one-and-one down the stretch that would have spaced it to four or five and then we let Goldwire up for air, twice."
The Owls completed a 20-7 second half run and took their first lead since the opening minutes on a Tyndale three-pointer, 50-47, with 4:24 to play. Charlotte came right back with a vicious putback slam by Charlie Cooley and then, following an offensive foul on senior guard Dionte Christmas, his fifth of the game, Goldwire tied it on a free throw.
Ryan Brooks nailed a jumper on the right wing to put the Owls back ahead, 52-50, but Goldwire, who made nine-of-11 from the line, drained two more free throws to deadlock it with 2:48 to play. Then, with the shot clock winding down, Tyndale drained a long three.
The Owls got the ball back courtesy of a Brooks' steal, but Tyndale failed to make it a two-possession game, missing the front-end of a one-and-one.
Goldwire, who posted his second straight 21-point game to lead all scorers, made Temple pay with a three from the right corner to tie the contest with 1:21 on the clock.
Semaj Inge had his shot blocked on the Owls next possession and Goldwire had the raucous crowd of 7,486 on their feet with his fourth trey of the game to give Charlotte a 58-55 lead. Brooks, however, answered right back with a three-pointer just eight seconds later, to deadlock the contest for the fifth time at 58 with 23 seconds remaining.
"One of the things we wanted to do was to get Mark to make a play whether it be in his hands for a jumper or get in a gap and make a play that is what we wanted to have happen," said Dunphy.
Luis Guzman then fouled Goldwire away from the ball and the 49er standout calmly sank both free throws to give Charlotte the lead for good.
Following a Temple timeout, Tyndale had the ball but, with Goldwire playing suffocating defense, dished it to Inge who passed it to Guzman in the left corner. The sophomore point guard drove baseline, but was called for a questionable offensive foul with 1.1 to play.
"One of the things we wanted to do was to get Mark to make a play whether it be in his hands for a jumper or get in a gap and make a play that is what we wanted to have happen," said Dunphy.
Charlotte threw the inbounds pass the length of the court, but the pass hit no one, giving the Owls one last chance. Guzman inbounded to Tyndale underneath the basket, but, in traffic, the ball squirted away to end the game.
Tyndale played his most complete game of the season. The Owl co-captain played all 40 minutes and was the key to the comeback, scoring 13 of his team-high 17 points in the second half. He made seven-of-13 from the field and dished two assists.
The Cherry and White needed that kind of game as junior Dionte Christmas struggled. The A-10's leading scorer (21.1 ppg.) scored just four points (1-7 FGs) in the first half before recovering with nine in the second half. He did, however, lead the team with nine rebounds.
Besides Goldwire, Charlotte received a strong game from center Lamont Mack. The 6-7 junior college transfer scored 18 points, and nailed four-of-six three-pointers.
The Owls, which shot a dismal 32 percent from the field in the opening stanza in falling behind 33-16 before closing the period with eight straight points, made 13-of-25 attempts in the second half (52%).
Temple played its best defense in the final 22 minutes, holding Charlotte to just 27 points and 7-of-26 (26.9%) over that stretch.
"(There were) a lot of really good things and I hope we have some confidence to carry on and I think we will," said Dunphy.
The Owls will need confidence as they play host to #24/25 Xavier this Wednesday at the Liacouras Center (7:00 p.m./CN8/1210 AM WPHT).
