Temple University Athletics
Temple University
Charlotte
#15/15 Men's Basketball Falls At Charlotte, 74-64
1.27.10 | Men's Basketball
49ers snap Owls six-game win streak
boxscore
CHARLOTTE - The #15/15 Temple Owls saw their six-game win streak come to a crashing halt Wednesday night at Halton Arena as the Charlotte 49ers forged a three-way tie atop the Atlantic 10 Conference standings with a 74-64 win. The Owls, who fall to 17-4, 5-1 in the A-10, also saw their seven-game road win streak snapped at the only venue in the conference the team has yet to post a victory. Charlotte improves to 15-5 and 5-1 in conference play.
Temple jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead on a three-pointer by Ryan Brooks, one of five in the game for the senior co-captain, and inside baskets by Micheal Eric and Lavoy Allen.
The Owls would later build the margin to 10 (25-15) on a trey by Scootie Randall, who turned in another fine game (8 points, 6 rebounds, 24 minutes) off the bench.
A few minutes later Allen picked up his second foul, joining Juan Fernandez, on the bench for the final three minutes of the half. Fernandez, who looked to be still sluggish from the head injury sustained in the Fordham win, had just three points on the evening, but did dish six assists without making a turnover.
With Allen on the bench, the 49ers went into a 2-3 zone, allowing them to close the deficit to just one, 29-28, with under a minute to go.
Senior co-captain Luis Guzman, however, gave the Owl a lift heading into intermission, draining a three with two seconds on the clock to make it 32-28 at the break.
Temple, which made seven treys in the first half, opened the lead back to seven, 39-32, on another Guzman trey, part of his career-high 14 points.
The Owls, however, started to struggle to score as Allen had already taken a seat on the bench with his third foul and Fernandez would pick up two quick ones, his third and fourth, to join him on the pines with 11:35 remaining and Temple leading 45-39.
“Lavoy is such a rock for us inside, he runs the show for us defensively. He played just seven minutes in the second half we need him much more,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said.
Charlotte's zone was again giving Temple fits, and would limit the Owls to four-of-16 from three-point range in the period.
“We did not attack it very well,” Dunphy said on the zone. “We did not look very fluid as we were attacking it. We did get some decent shots and we rushed a few. We did not make many shots in the second half.”
Five straight Derrio Green points capped an 11-4 Charlotte run to give the 49ers their first lead of the game, 50-49, with just over seven minutes on the clock.
Brooks, who led Temple with 20 points, answered with a jumper in the lane, but Charlotte, fed by its frenzied crowd of 7,623 fans, ran off eight straight points to make it 58-51 with 3:33 remaining.
The Owls cut it to four on Fernandez' only trey, but Green, who led all scorers with 26, answered with his own three to
The Owls would get no closer than seven the rest of the way as the 49ers drained nine of 12 free throw attempts to close out the win.
Charlotte, which has made more free throws on the season than its opponents have taken, converted 24 of 31 from the line with Temple hitting just seven of 11 attempts.
Allen contributed a double-double (12 points, 14 rebounds) despite playing just 22 minutes.
Chris Braswell (15) and Shamari Spears (11) also added double figures for Charlotte.
Temple next hosts La Salle Saturday at noon on ESPN2. It is the first half of a doubleheader with the Owls' women's team who hosts St. Bonaventure. It is also the Seventh Annual Owl Club Auction that day as well as Big 5 Hall of Fame Day at Temple with legendary coach John Chaney and former La Salle coach Speedy Morris being recognized at halftime for their induction into the Big 5 Hall of Fame.
