Temple University Athletics
Dionte Christmas Named A-10 Player Of The Week
1.18.09 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - Temple University All-America candidate Dionte Christmas has been named the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week for the week ending January 17. It is his third A-10 Player of the Week honor of the season and the 10th of his career, the most by a Temple player and third most in league history. Only Xavier's David West (14.'00-03) and Saint Joseph's Jameer Nelson (13, '01-04), both National Players of the Year as seniors, have earned more A-10 Player of the Week honors.
Christmas averaged 27 points and 7.7 rebounds while knocking down 14 field goals from beyond the arc helping lead the Owls to a 2-1 week. The Philadelphia native (Philadelphia Lutheran Christian Academy) shot 29-of-52 from the field and added four steals. The A-10's leading scorer (21.6 ppg.) registered his 10th career 30-point performance, scoring 30 in the Owls' 75-68 win at La Salle. He scored 25 points in just 27 minutes of action, hitting all five of his shots from three-point range as Temple turned aside Pennsylvania on Jan. 14, 78-53. He ended his week with 26 points and nine boards at Massachusetts on Jan.17...
The 6-5 senior guard, who is looking to become the first player in A-10 history to win three consecutive scoring titles, also moved up the all-time Temple scoring and three-point made lists. This week he passed Aaron McKie (1,650, '91-95) and Mike Vreeswyk (1,650, '85-89), Granger Hall (1,652, '80-85), Nate Blackwell (1,708, '83-87) and former teammate Mark Tyndale (1,713, '04-08) to move into seventh place on the all-time scoring list with 1,726 points. He also passed Vreeswyk (271) to move into second place on the all-time three-point list with 274.
Christmas and the Owls begin a two-game homestand Thursday night (8:00 p.m/CBS College Sports/1210 AM WPHT) against Saint Louis.
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