Temple University Athletics
Supporting Cast Helps Lead Men's Basketball Past Charlotte 75-61
2.27.08 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - Behind a balanced scoring attack and a defense that stymied Charlotte shooters all night long, the Temple men's basketball team was able to keep pace in the Atlantic 10 race by defeating Charlotte 75-61 from the Liacouras Center on Wednesday evening.
With the victory, the Owls (15-12, 8-5) remain deadlocked with Richmond and La Salle for third place in the Atlantic 10 conference. The win also places even greater importance on Sunday's epic showdown with heated Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's from the Palestra (Comcast SportsNet/WPHT 1210). The Cherry and White will be looking for revenge after the last meeting with the Hawks on January 26th, when SJU's Pat Calathes hit a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds remaining to give the Hawks a stunning 68-67 win from the Liacouras Center.
Junior Dionte Christmas led the Owls with 19 points, including several critical three-pointers in the second half to break the game open, but the story of the night was supporting cast to Temple's one-two punch. With senior Mark Tyndale limited to only nine points for the evening, sophomore Ryan Brooks and freshman Lavoy Allen answered the call. Brooks scored 16 points and was a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc. Allen scored 12 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and career-high four blocks. Junior Sergio Olmos added seven points and three blocks, while senior Chris Clark contributed seven points.
"He's one of the most clutch shooters we have," said head coach Fran Dunphy about Brooks. "Kids are going to go through stretches where don't make shots like they always do, and that's when you need find other ways to score like driving the lane and hitting a bank shot or going to foul line, and that's what I think he did today."
The Cherry and White defense disrupted Charlotte shooters all game long. The 49ers shot an abysmal 31.4 % for the game, including only 23.1 % in the first half. Even the Owls perimeter defense, a trouble spot all season, limited the 49ers to just 8-29 from behind the arc. The Owls defense also put the clamps on Charlotte's Leemire Goldwire, one of the most talented scorers in the Atlantic 10. Goldwire was held to season-low three points for the game, compared to the 21 he scored against the Owls when the two teams squared off in January, a 50-48 Charlotte victory.
The Owls defense was dominate from the get-go in the first half. The 49ers would miss seven of their first eight shots, and it wouldn't get much better from there. The 49ers would end up shooting just 23.1% percent in the first half and hitting only nine total field goals for the half. The Owls created some separation midway through the first half when Olmos and Brooks sparked an 8-0 run that gave the Owls an early 17-9 lead with 12:28 remaining in the first half. Brooks once again used his long range stroke to keep the 49ers at bay, as his three with four minutes remaining helped spark another Cherry and White rally and made the score 31-21. The Owls took a 34-25 lead into the locker room.
To start the second half, the 49ers showed they were not about to go away quietly. They used a 7-3 run early in second half to cut the Temple lead down to 37-32 with 17:01 remaining. But just as quickly as the 49ers got back into the game, Christmas took them out of it. He responded to the run with five consecutive points to extend the lead back to double-digits, and his mid-court steal and breakaway dunk with 12:00 remaining made the score 49-36. With Charlotte still hanging around at 55-43, a jump-shot by junior Semaj Inge with 7:49 basically sealed it for the Cherry and White.
The road doesn't get any easier for the Owls in their quest for a first round bye in the Atlantic 10 tournament, as they head to the Palestra to take on Saint Joseph's on Sunday at 7pm (Comcast SportsNet/WPHT 1210) in a Big Five showdown and critical Atlantic 10 battle.
