Temple University Athletics
Temple University
Rhode Island
#21/25 Temple Prevails 68-64 In Overtime At Rhode Island
1.10.10 | Men's Basketball
Ryan Brooks led the way with eight points in the extra frame
Boxscore
KINGSTON, RI – Senior co-captain Ryan Brooks scored eight of his 16 points in overtime to lead #21/25 Temple to a 68-64 win Sunday afternoon at the Ryan Center in a showdown of the top two RPI teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Temple improves to 13-3 and 2-0 in the A-10 while Rhode Island is now 12-2, 0-1 in league play.
Sophomore Juan Fernandez added a game-high 18 points, including a deep contest three with 28 seconds left in the extra frame to lift the Owls to a 65-61 lead. Brooks made three of four free throws to close out the contest.
Junior Lavoy Allen also had a big game, posting his fifth double-double of the season (16 points, game-high 12 rebounds).
“It is a really good win for us,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. “I think Rhode Island is playing very well. They have good depth , good talent, good coaching. They have everything you need to be a top team in this league and for us to come away with a victory – we are thrilled by it.”
Temple entered play ranked ninth by realtimerpi.com while Rhode Island, winners of eight straight and all seven home games, were ranked fourth. It also featured the A-10's top defensive team (Temple-55.7 ppg.) against the league's top offensive team (URI-79.1 ppg.). The game lived up to its billing as there were 14 ties and nine lead changes.
Neither team could get separation in the first half with the first two possession lead coming on a lay-up by URI center Will Martell as time expired. That gave the Rams a 35-30 advantage at the break.
The Owls took control of the contest early in the second half, scoring the first seven points to retake the lead, 39-37, on a three-pointer by Fernandez.
Temple put some separation between themselves and its hosts courtesy of a 7-0 run midway through the period to take its largest lead, 50-42, on a Fernandez jumper with 8:24 on the clock. Sophomore forward Scootie Randall, playing due to foul trouble on Allen, made a huge trey in the run.
Randall finished with five points and four rebounds while matching his career high with 15 minutes.
Rhode Island, which had made just two second half field goals to this point, was not about to give up. Akeem Richmond drained a deep three from the top of the key, and following Randall's second basket, Delroy James, who had a game-high 23 points, made two layups in traffic and a long trey to make it 54-52 with 2:37 to play.
Brooks was then fouled while going up for a lay-up, and made both free throws, the first attempted by an Owl in the contest, to make it 56-52 with 1:29 left.
Following a James free throw, Luis Guzman missed a three in the corner. Keith Cochran (18 points), who would score his 1000th point in the overtime, made a free throw to cut the margin to two. Fernandez, who had 11 of his points in the second half, missed a jumper in the lane with eight seconds to play, and then fouled Cochran on the perimeter with five seconds. Cochran, who missed five free throws in the game, made these count, tying the game at 56.
The Owls had difficulty with the Rams press and were unable to get off a final shot.
The extra frame was a battle of each squad's leading scorer as Cochran (16.5 ppg.) and Brooks (15.3 ppg.) went toe-to-toe. Brooks, who was 3-of-10 (0-3 from three) over the first 40 minutes, hit a deep trey from the corner to give the Owls a 62-61 lead with 1:47 on the clock.
Following a URI turnover, Fernandez drained a long three to make it 65-61. Brooks then sealed it at the line.
“We made some big shot,” Dunphy said. “Ryan Brooks' three in the corner was huge. Fernandez's three at the end was extraordinary…and Scootie Randall came off the bench to hit two big shots.”
URI, the top free throw shooting team in the A-10 (76.3%), made just 12 of 26 from the charity stripe for the game. The Owls made eight of 10 from the line.
The Owls return to Philadelphia to take on city-rival Penn in a Big 5 battle at The Palestra on Wednesday night (7:00 p.m./no TV). The game, the first home game for new Quaker head coach Jerome Allen, will be audiostreamed for free on OwlSports.com. Allen played under Temple coach Fran Dunphy.
