Temple University Athletics
Temple University
George Washington
Allen Leads #24/24 Temple to 57-41 Come-From-Behind Win at George Washington
2.26.11 | Men's Basketball
Senior forward has game highs of 19 points and 16 rebounds
box score | Dunphy postgame | Players postgame
WASHINGTON, DC - Senior forward Lavoy Allen had his best game of the season, contributing game-highs of 19 points and 16 rebounds to lead #24/24 Temple to a come-from-behind 57-41 win at George Washington Saturday afternoon. With the win the Owls (22-6, 12-2 A10) clinched a first round bye in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament. The Colonials fell to 15-13 and 8-6 in league play.
Allen literally picked up his teammates and carried them to victory after the Owls fell behind 22-10 over a sluggish first 12 1/2 minutes. The 6-9 Morrisville, Pa. native scored 17 of his points over the final 26 minutes of play, including all seven Owl points in 7-2 run that cut the Colonial lead to 24-21 with 2:55 left in the half. The teams would go into intermission with GW leading 26-23.
After Nemanja Mikic drained what would be GW's only three-pointer to start the second half, Allen really showed his mettle. First hitting a three-pointer to give Temple its first lead, 31-29 and then followed that with a put back of a Ramone Moore miss to cap a 10-0 run.
George Washington, fighting for a potential first round bye, was not going away quietly. Aaron Ware (11 points) hit a jumper in the lane to give the Colonials a 39-38 lead. The Owls, however, answered back with 10 straight points, including two timely Juan Fernandez three-pointers to make it 48-39. It was the junior guard's first baskets of the game as he missed all six of his first half attempts.
Junior guard Tony Taylor, GW's leading scorer entering play (14.7 ppg.), cut the lead to 48-41 with a basket. It was just his second on the day as the tenacious Temple defense limited him to five points on 2-of-12 shooting.
That would be the final points for the Colonials as the Owls ran off nine straight points to close out the contest with the final two coming from Allen on a deep jumper from the left corner.
Allen, who made eight of 12 shots, posted his eighth double-double of the season and 36th of his career, the most by any active A-10 players. He also blocked three shots to become just the fifth Temple player to reject 200 shots and his 16 rebounds were a season high.
Wyatt, who matched his career high with 33 minutes played, added 14 points including a late three-pointer off a behind the back pass from Fernandez that put an exclamation point on the win.
Moore added 11 points, seven rebounds and a game-high five assists. Dwayne Smith led GW with 12 points.
After shooting an abysmal 24.2 percent (8-33) from the field in the first half, Temple blistered the nets after intermission by hitting 55 percent (11-20) overall and 66.7 percent (4-6) from long range.
During the Owls incredible 47-19 stretch over the final 27-plus minutes, the Cherry and White defense held the Colonuals to eight-of-39 (20.5%) from the field and six-of-32 (18.8%) in the second half.
The 41 points is the lowest total by a Temple opponent this season.
The Owls conclude their three-game road trip Wednesday at Massachusetts (7:00 p.m./1210 AM WPHT).
