Temple University Athletics
Men's Basketball Beats Penn State On The Road, 65-59
12.6.08 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2008
STATE COLLEGE, PA - Senior guard Semaj Inge tallied a career-high 19 points and junior guard Ryan Brooks, chipped in 15 to lead Temple to a 65-59 win at Penn State Saturday afternoon. The Owls won despite All-America candidate Dionte Christmas being held to just two points, his lowest output since his freshman year. Temple improves to 4-3 while Penn State drops to 7-2.
Christmas, who picked up two early fouls, played just seven minutes in the first half. When he took a seat on the bench, at the 15:58 mark, the Owls trailed 10-4. Instead of collapsing with the two-time A-10 scoring champion on the bench, the Cherry and White banded together.
"I think everyone did a good job, especially the young guys coming off the bench just trying to stem the tide until we were able to get him back," said Inge.
Inge, who got the nod over junior Luis Guzman at point with the return of junior Lavoy Allen to the starting five, directed the offense and kept the Owls poised in the first half that also saw junior Ryan Brooks, the team's second leading scorer, also limited to five first half minutes due to foul trouble.
After the teams traded baskets, Temple went on a 13-2 run to take a 19-14 lead with 6:30 remaining in the half. Five Owls scored in the run while the defense clamped down on the Nittany Lions, holding the hosts without a field goal for a nine-minute stretch.
Penn State tied the game at 21 on a lay-up by Jamelle Cornley (14 points), but the Owls answered back with seven straight points capped by an Allen three-pointer. Cornley drained a trey in the final minute to cut the Temple lead to four, 28-24, at intermission.
PSU quickly tied the game at 30, just under three minutes into the second half, but the Owls again answer. This time it was Brooks, who connected on two three-pointers in a 10-1 run to give TU some space at 40-31.
After the Nittany Lions made a run to close to 40-38, a 9-2 Owl surge, spearheaded by seven Inge points brought the led back to nine, 49-40. An Inge jumper three-minutes later extended the margin to 12, 55-43, with 3:36 remaining.
Penn State was unable to get closer than five the remainder of the contest.
Christmas played the final 20 minutes, but made only one of five shot attempts. He finally scored on a lay-up with just over five minutes to play. He did grab six second half rebounds, second on the team behind Allen, who posted his third double-double of the season (11 points, 10 rebounds).
"It was another tough day for him," said Temple coach Fran Dunphy on Christmas. "But I think he is learning and understanding that it is not the critical mass that we need from him that is making shots all the time. We need for him to play the total game."
The Owls big lineup proved effective. TU won the battle on the glass, 40-33 while also rejecting a season-high 10 shots. Allen, Sergio Olmos (8 points) and Micheal Eric each made three blocks.
"We did a good job playing together," said Allen on the inside play. "Especially as they had some big boys down there."
The Owls are off until next Saturday when they host #10/12 Tennessee at the Liacouras Center in a nationally-televised game (Noon/ESPN).
