Temple University Athletics
Temple University
Georgia
#21/20 Men's Basketball Downs Georgia, 65-58
11.26.10 | Men's Basketball
Owls next take on Texas A&M Sunday at 11:00 a.m.
boxscore | Gallery | Dunphy Media Conference | Randall Media Conference
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL - Junior forward Scootie Randall scored a career-high 18 points to lead four double-figure scorers for #21/20 Temple as the Owls downed Georgia, 65-58, in a consolation round game on Friday evening at the Old Spice Classic held at HP Field House inside Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. The Owls (3-1) next play Texas A&M (4-1) for fifth place in the eight-team tournament on Sunday morning (11:00 a.m./ESPNU &ESPN 3D/1210 AM WPHT).
"I was real proud of our team today," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "I thought we did a really good job. Scootie Randall saved us in the first half. He was just tremendous and kept us in the game after he had a real tough night last night."
Randall topped his previous best of 12 points in the first half alone, making all six of his field goal attempts, including three 3-pointers, for 15 points. It was much needed as Temple's top two guns, senior Lavoy Allen and junior Juan Fernandez, were held scoreless in the frame.
"Coach just told me to be ready." Randall said. "I had a bad shooting night this past game (0-4, 0-3 vs. Cal). He told me to come out and keep shooting and when I am open just shoot the ball."
With Randall leading the way, and junior forward Micheal Eric tallying eight of his 10 points in the frame, the Owls were able to take a 31-29 lead into the locker room.
Randall's fourth trey lifted Temple to a seven-point lead early in the second half and sophomore guard Khalif Wyatt, who set a new career high with 10 points, added a jumper to extend it to nine, 42-33, with 13:10 remaining.
Following a basket by Gerald Robinson, who led the Bulldogs with 16 points, Wyatt and Eric hit consecutive jumpers to push the Temple lead to 46-35.
Georgia, however, did not go away quietly. Robinson drained a big three to start a 9-2 run that cut the margin to four, 48-44. The Bulldogs cut it to one possession four minutes later when Travis Leslie (14 pts) converted on a three-point play to make it 54-51 Temple with 3:21 on the clock.
Instead of collapsing, like the owls did in their loss to California in the opener, Temple responded by running off five straight points with Fernandez breaking an 0-11 slump from behind the arc with his first three-pointer of the tournament to make it 59-51.
Robinson ran off four quick points to cut it to four (59-55) with 1:13 to play, but Jefferson made a nice cut for a layup and Ramone Moore (14 points, 8 rebounds) closed out the win by draining four straight from the line.
"We still need to do a better job of (closing out games)," Dunphy said. "This was a good win for us."
The Owls connected on 49 percent from the field (25-51) after struggling in the opening loss to California. The Cherry and White defense allowed a season-high 58 points, but held Georgia (3-2) to 38.9 percent from the field (21-54).
