Temple University Athletics
Tyndale Leads Temple To Thrilling 57-56 Come-From-Behind Win Over St. Joe's
3.2.08 | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - Senior co-captain Mark Tyndale scored 13 of his game-high 15 points in the second half including the game-winning basket with 21 seconds to play in leading Temple to a come-from-behind win over Saint Joseph's Sunday night in front of a capacity crowd at The Palestra. The win moves Temple (16-12, 9-5) into sole possession of second place in the Atlantic 10 Conference standings, one-game ahead of Saint Joseph's (17-10, 8-6) who falls into a four-way tie for third. It also gives the Owls their most regular season wins since the 2000-01 team posted an 18-12 regular season mark en route to a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight.
Tyndale, who is making his case for conference Player of the Year honors, made all six of his second half field goal attempts with the final one giving the Owls' their first and only lead of the night. The 6-5 guard took the ball, as he has numerous times during his stellar season, at the top of the key and broke down his defender, sophomore Garrett Williamson. He drove by the Hawk guard and laid the ball in to make it 57-56.
"I think I caught Garrett [Williamson] with a good move because he's a great defender," Tyndale said. "They did a good job of putting their best defender on me at the time. I just made good move."
"Mark did a terrific job of getting to the basket," said Temple coach Fran Dunphy. "He had a great second half and I am happy for him."
Following Tyndale's basket, SJU looked to its top gun, senior guard Pat Calathes. Tyndale had defended him most of the night, holding the Hawks' leading scorer to three-of-14 shooting. This possession, it was sophomore guard Ryan Brooks who had the assignment. Calathes, who led SJU with 14 points, drove the lane but his shot was off the mark. Tasheed Carr rebounded and missed from five feet and Rob Ferguson also missed a follow shot before Brooks finally corralled the rebound to seal the win.
"That was the longest 20 seconds of my life," said Tyndale, who recorded just his second win over St. Joe's.
The Owls trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half, and 12 with 9:44 to play. That was when Tyndale and the Cherry and White came alive.
Trailing 52-40, Temple ran off 11 unanswered points with Tyndale closing the run on a length of the court slam dunk to make it 52-51 with 4:30 on the clock.
Calathes made two free throws to bring the margin back to three points with Sergio Olmos (8 points) making a basket to cut it back to one, 54-53, with 3:44 remaining.
Temple had three chances to take the lead, before Calathes snapped a eight-and-a-half minute field goal drought with a jumper in the lane, making it 56-53 with 1:35 left.
Tyndale answered with a jumped 10 seconds later and Dionte Christmas (10 points), who was scoreless in the second half, pulled down the rebound on a Calathes miss to set up Tyndale's final basket.
SJU, which has now lost five of its last seven games, built its lead on the strength of the inside play of junior center Ahmad Nivins (11 points). The Hawks' all-conference big-man was able to get Lavoy Allen and Olmos in early foul trouble. He was not a factor in the second half, taking just one shot in the frame.
Temple, the worst three-point defensive team in the A-10, held St. Joe's, the league's best perimeter team, to just two-of-16 from three-point range.
The Owls received tremendous bench play with junior guard Semaj Inge tallying 10 points off the pine. The reserve guard drained consecutive three-pointers to halt an 8-0 Hawk first-half run.
"Semaj bailed us out in the first half," said Dunphy. "Those two three-pointers were huge."
The win also counts in the Philadelphia Big 5 standings. The Owls are now 2-1 in Big 5 play and can clinch a share of the city-series title with a win over La Salle on Saturday.
The Owls host Duquesne Wednesday (7:00 p.m./Comcast SportsNet/1210 AM WPHT) in the final home game for seniors Tyndale, Chris Clark and Orlando Miller.
