Temple University Athletics
Second Half Rally Falls Short as Men's Basketball Falls to Fordham 78-76
2.23.08 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - With a chance to cap off a furious second-half comeback and put the Temple in sole possession of second place in the Atlantic 10, senior Mark Tyndale's potential game-winning three-pointer fell just short as time expired as the Owls lost to the Fordham Rams, 78-76, at the Liacouras Center Saturday afternoon.
Tyndale got a final chance to win it for the Cherry and White when sophomore Luis Guzman made a great defensive play on Fordham's inbound pass and deflected the ball off a Ram. That gave the Cherry and White the ball with 4.7 seconds remaining and down by two points. Tyndale inbounded the ball to sophomore Ryan Brooks who quickly got the ball back to Tyndale. With the clock ticking, Tyndale's only option was to try a contested three that would have won the game for the Owls. The shot was on target, but fell just short, preserving the victory for the Rams.
"They cut everything else off, so that was my best look," said Tyndale. "I thought it was a good look, the shot was on line, but it was just a little bit short."
The loss drops the Owls (14-12, 7-5) into a third place tie with Richmond in the Atlantic 10 standings. The Cherry and White are fighting to get one of the four first-round byes in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
"We are trying to take it a week at a time, and we had a great opportunity today," Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said about the competitive Atlantic 10 race. "We can only control what we can, and we have four very tough games left that we need to prepare for".
Junior Dionte Christmas led the Owls with 20 points and seven rebounds for the game. Tyndale notched his fourth double-double of the season, scoring 18 and pulling down 12 rebounds. Tyndale also recorded a double-double against Fordham the last time these two teams played. Brooks and freshmen Lavoy Allen each contributed nine points for the Cherry and White.
Fordham's Marcus Stout was nearly unstoppable on the day, scoring a season-high 31 points, including five three-pointers, for the Rams.
For most of the game, it appeared as if the Owls would never even be in a position to possibly win the game, as they trailed the Rams (11-13, 5-7) the entire game. The Rams took control of the game early with some hot shooting from behind the arc. Fordham hit seven of its first 11 three-pointers and finished the game with 10 three-pointers. The Rams led 43-34 at the half and built the lead to 60-45 with less than 12 minutes remaining.
With a critical game seemingly slipping away, Christmas and Tyndale sparked a furious comeback to get the Cherry and White back into the game. Temple's one-two punch scored 14 of the team's next 16 points to bring the Owls back, cutting the lead to 68-63 with under six minutes to play. Then, senior Chris Clark buried a three-pointer from the corner and Brooks hit a running lay-up to tie the game 68-68 with 4:12 to play.
But after rallying all the back to tie the game, the Owls could not get over the hump in the final four minutes. Stout scored eight of Fordham's final 10 points, including six from the free-throw line, as the Rams hung on for the victory.
The Owls will continue their late season push for second place in the Atlantic 10 when they host Charlotte (14-11, 5-6) on Wednesday at 7 PM. The Owls will be looking for revenge against the 49ers, who defeated them 60-58 in Charlotte on January 12.The game can be heard on the radio at WPHT 1210 AM and viewed via the internet on OwlAccess.
