Temple University Athletics
Clark leads Men's Basketball To 58-50 Win At Fordham
2.1.08 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2008
BRONX, NY - Senior co-captain Chris Clark scored a career-high 16 points to propel Temple to a key Atlantic 10 Conference road win at Fordham, 58-50, Thursday night. The win moved the Owls (10-9) into sole possession of fifth place in the tight A-10 race with a 3-2 mark while the Rams (8-10), picked to finish fourth in the league's preseason's poll, fell to 2-4.
"He was great tonight," said Temple coach Fran Dunphy on Clark. "If we were giving game balls out, he would have got it. He gave a great performance."
On a night when the A-10's leading scorer, Dionte Christmas, broke a personal streak of 39 straight games with at least one-three-pointer, it was the league's smallest player that came up big.
Clark, who stands at five-feet, eight-inches, came off the bench to make six of his nine field goal attempts, and looked to be the only player on either team in sync on the offensive end.
"I just saw my teammates struggling so I just tried to be aggressive," said Clark on his second career double figure game. "This was a big road win for us."
Christmas struggled with his jumper all night, making just six-of-17 from the field while missing all five of his three-pointers. He did finish with 13 points and eight rebounds.
The Owls' other co-captain, senior Mark Tyndale, turned in a solid performance. The 6-5 guard posted his third double-double of the season and 11th of his career, tallying 14 points and 12 rebounds, After missing a one-and-one in the final minute of the Saint Joseph's game, he made all four of his attempts to close out this contest. He also added five assists, three steals and two blocked shots, all team highs.
Temple came out with another solid effort on the defensive end, holding Fordham to 31 percent from the field in both halves. The Rams made four three-pointers in the first half which enabled them to take a 26-23 advantage into the locker room with neither team holding a two-possession lead over the final 15 minutes of the period.
"We are getting better defensively," said Dunphy. "We are doing a good job of communicating during switches. Lavoy and Sergio did a good job on (Bryant) Dunston."
The Owls' two big men held the Rams' leading scorer (Dunston) to nine points on four-of-16 shooting from the field.
With Fordham leading 39-36, with 13 minutes to play, Temple Clark ignited a 10-0 run, scoring four of his points in the stretch, to make it 46-39 with 6:17 to play. After the Rams' Marcus Stout (11 points) scored four straight points to cut the margin to three, Clark hit the biggest shot of the night, a runner in the lane with the shot clock winding down to make it 48-43 with 3:38 on the clock.
The Rams twice cut the margin back to three points, before Tyndale and Clark made four straight free throws to make it 54-47 with 25 seconds remaining. Fordham never cut the lead under six the rest of the way as Ryan Brooks and Tyndale connected on four straight from the charity stripe to close out the game. Junior Semaj Inge started his second straight game in place of injured sophomore Luis Guzman. Nursing a bruised hip, Guzman did come off the bench for four minutes.
The biggest news in the Temple family, however, came off the court as Owl assistant coach Matt Langel and his wife celebrated the birth of their first child, Logan Anne, earlier in the day. Matt, Tara and their daughter are doing fine.
The Owls next host George Washington Sunday (2:00 p.m./CN8/1210 AM WPHT). At halftime the 1987-88 Temple team that was ranked #1 in the final Associated Press poll, will be introduced as they celebrate their 20th Anniversary.
