Temple University Athletics
La Salle Tops Temple In A-10/Big 5 Clash, 70-63
2.26.09 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - Senior Rodney Green came off the bench for the first time since his freshman year and scored a game-high 22 points to lead La Salle to a 70-63 win over Temple Thursday night at the Liacouras Center. The Explorer win snaps a season-high five game win streak for the Cherry and White and also ended the Owls' eight-game win streak in the arena. La Salle, which ended a two-game losing skid, improves to 15-12, 6-7 in the Atlantic 10 and 3-1 in Big 5 play. Temple falls to 17-10 overall, 9-4 in conference play and 1-2 in the Big 5.
I give great credit to La Salle said Temple coach Fran Dunphy.They did a great job on both ends of the floor.
Dunphy also credited the play of Green, who sat the bench the first four minutes in an effort to shake things up according to La Salle coach Dr. John Giannini.
The biggest play of the game was when we tied it up at again (53-53) and Rodney Green stepped back and hit a huge three. It was a terrific shot. They deserved to win the game. Their will was certainly greater than ours tonight Dunphy said.
Green's big trey came right after Dionte Christmas stole an in-bounds pass and drained a long three-pointer from the left corner to cap a 5-0 Owl mini-run. Green, who made all three of his shots from long-range, answered Christmas with one of his own from the top of the key, making it 56-53 with 7:40 remaining. The Explorers would not relinquish the advantage the rest of the way.
La Salle, which posted its first-ever win at the Liacouras Center in seven tries, extended the margin to seven, 66-59, on another Green three with just under two minutes to play. Christmas, who topped Temple with 19 points, converted a lay-up to cut the deficit to five. The Owls had a chance to cut the margin further, but Juan Fernandez turned the ball over on the ensuing possession with an errant cross court pass.
Lavoy Allen, who pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, drained a jumper with one minute to play to make it 67-63. Following a Green turnover, Semaj Inge missed a three-pointer that would have made it a one-point game. Paul Johnson made one free throw, but then La Salle rebounded an Inge missed lay-up and raced down the floor for two of their 22 fastbreak points to close out the game. The Owls had only two fastbreak points in the contest.
Kimmami Barrett added 20 points for La Salle, who out-rebounded the Owls 42-34.Sergio Olmos (14 points, 6 rebounds) and Ryan Brooks (11) joined Christmas in double figures for the Owls.
I do not think we looked past La Salle said Christmas. There was no reason to look past them. La Salle is one of the top teams in this league. We just did not pay attention to every detail that we were supposed to pay attention to.
Temple next travels to Dayton for a Saturday afternoon (4:00 p.m./Comcast SportsNet/1210 AM WPHT) game in a key positioning battle in the Atlantic 10 standings against the Flyers (23-5, 9-4). The Owls and Flyers are tied for third in the league, one-half game behind Rhode Island (21-8, 10-4), and a game-and-a-half in back of A-10 leader Xavier (23-5, 11-3).
