Temple University Athletics

#19/23 Men's Basketball Falls at Duquesne, 78-66
1.15.11 | Men's Basketball
Owls never recover from cold start
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PITTSBURGH, PA - Duquesne jumped out to a 22-2 lead and #19/23 Temple never was able to recover as the Dukes (11-5, 3-0) pulled off a 78-66 upset of the Owls (12-4, 3-1) Saturday afternoon at the Palumbo Center. It was the sixth straight win for Duquesne while Temple lost for just the second time in its last 11 games.
“Duquesne played better. They were hungrier and tougher in every sense of the word,” Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said. “My hat is off to them. They were much better than we were today,”
Duquesne, the A-10's top scoring team (80.9 ppg.), had little problems early on against Temple's top-ranked defense (58.4 ppg.). The Dukes scored the game's first 10 points and held leads of 19-1 and 22-2 after making their first five shots -- four from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, the Owls, struggled, missing their first 14 shots and did not make their first field goal until Khalif Wyatt's three from the corner fell at the 8:18 mark of the first half.
“You have to meet their toughness with ours, and we did not do that,” Dunphy said on the slow start.
Juan Fernandez, who played 20 minutes off the bench after missing the previous two games due to a bone bruise on his left knee, followed with a trey to cap a 8-0 TU run, making it 24-12.
The free throws by Wyatt cut the deficit to 10, 28-18, at the 4:43 mark, but Duquesne then proceeded to go on an 11-1 run of its own to push the margin back to 20. Bill Clark, who led all scorers with 22 points, tallied four of his 13 first half points during that stretch.
Scootie Randall broke that drought with a lay-up, only the fourth field goal of the opening stanza for Temple, which shot 16.7 percent (4-24) in the frame.
The Owls made their first four baskets of the second half, but coupled with four turnovers, were only able to shave three points off their halftime deficit (40-23), and trailed 48-34 at the 13-minute mark.
Temple never really mounted a serious threat the remainder of the contest as the Owls were unable to cut the deficit under 12.
Ramone Moore, held played just four minutes in the first half after picking up three fouls, led Temple with 18 points, all scored following intermission. Aaron Brown, Randall and Wyatt each had nine points.
The Owls shot 30.9 percent for the game, their second lowest output of the season while the Dukes hit 47.7 percent from the field.
Besides Clark, Eric Evans (13 points), Mike Tally (11) and Damian Saunders (10) also scored in double figures for the Dukes, who are now 7-1 at the Palumbo Center.
Temple next takes on Penn in a Philadelphia Big 5 game at the Liacouras Center Wednesday (7:30 p.m./OwlAccess). It is the second part of a doubleheader with the Temple women taking on Saint Joseph's at 5:00 p.m.