Temple University Athletics
Owls Fall Short In Charleston Classic Final To Clemson, 76-72
11.16.08 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2008
CHARLESTON, SC - Temple rallied back from a 14-point deficit, but fell just short in losing to Clemson, 76-72 in the championship of the Charleston Classic Sunday evening at the Carolina First Arena. The Owls fall to 2-1 on the season while the Tigers, picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference, improve to 3-0.
The Owls, who trailed the final 32 minutes, fought back from a 14-point deficit with 10 minutes remaining, but, despite numerous chances, were never able to tie the contest.
Held scoreless through the first half, All-America candidate Dionte Christmas came to life in the Owls 13-4 run to cut the margin to five, 67-62, with just over six minutes to play. Christmas, who was the lone TU player named to the all-tournament team, ignited the drive with a three-pointer and added another to go along with two free throws for eight of his 14 points in the contest.
Junior guard Ryan Brooks, who led all scorers with 19 points, added a three-pointer of his own while Lavoy Allen (14 pts) capped the drive with a jumper.
Following a basket by Classic MVP Trevor Booker (15 pts, 16 rebs.), Allen sandwiched two treys around a Booker free throw to bring the Owls to within a basket, 70-68, with 2:44 remaining.
Brooks then stole the ball from David Potter at midcourt and missed a lay-up that would have tied the game. On the next Clemson possession, Christmas stole the ball in the paint and went the length of the court, but took an off-balanced shot on his drive that went awry.
Sophomore sharpshooter Terrance Oglesby (16 pts) drained two free throws to make it 72-68 with 58 seconds remaining.
Red-shirt freshman Ramone Moore, who had his third straight double-figure scoring game to start the season (13 pts), broke his man down at the top of the key and made a nifty pass in the lane to Allen for a lay-up.
Luis Guzman then fouled Demontez Stitt, who made the first, but missed the second attempt. Booker, however, came down with the rebound and made both of his free throw attempts to make it 75-70 with 22 seconds on the clock.
Brooks made two free throws with 15 seconds to play, but Stitt made one of two to account for the final score.
The game started out looking like the Cherry and White would have its way with Clemson. The Owls opened up an 18-10 lead with just over five minutes played with five TU players not named Christmas scoring in the opening burst.
Clemson then instituted a full court press and their shooters, especially Ogelsby, started draining long-range threes. The Tigers ran off 15 straight points en route to a 23-4 run to take a 33-22 lead with 6:54 on the clock. Temple committed eight of its 11 turnovers during that stretch. Oglesby led the Tiger attack, scoring 14 points courtesy of four-of-seven three-point shooting. As a team, Clemson made nine-of-17 from long-range in the opening stanza..
The Tigers also held Christmas, who had scored 26 points in each of the first two games, to just three shots and zero points over the first 20 minutes. Moore and Brooks picked up the scoring slack for the Owls. Moore drained three treys in tallying 13 first half points while Brooks contributed 12 points in the opening period.
The Owls next travel to Lafayette to take on the Leopards Friday, November 21 at 8:30 p.m. That game will not be televised, but can be heard on The BigTalker, 1210 AM WPHT.
