Temple University Athletics
Temple University
La Salle
#24/25 Temple Cruises To 96-76 Win Over La Salle in A-10 Quarterfinals
3.11.11 | Men's Basketball
Moore, Allen lead Temple into semifinals
Box score
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - Junior guard Ramone Moore scored a game-high 23 points and senior forward Lavoy Allen posted his fifth straight double-double to lead #24/25 Temple (25-6) to a resounding 96-76 win over La Salle (15-18) in the Atlantic 10 Conference Quarterfinals Friday evening at Boardwalk Hall. The three-time defending A-10 champions looked poised in posting their 10th straight win in A-10 Championship play.
Sophomore guard Khalif Wyatt came off the bench to add 20 points while junior guard Juan Fernandez added 19 and freshman guard Aaron Brown contributed 14 points in the balanced Temple attack.
Allen, who has elevated his play since the injuries to Micheal Eric and Scootie Randall, scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. It was his seventh double-figure rebound game in A-10 Championship play. He also tied his career-high with six assists and his three steals set a new season best.
A member of the A-10 all-defensive team for the third straight year, Allen was also stellar on the defensive end, rejecting three shots and keeping the Explorers out of the paint.
The game started as expected between the city rivals with four ties and 10 lead changes over the opening 10 minutes. The Owls then flexed their muscles used a 17-6 run to take a 33-22 lead with 5:11 to play in the half. Wyatt showed why he is the A-10's Sixth Man of the Year, scoring seven in that stretch.
Temple would extend the lead to 14, 38-24, on a Fernandez lay-up, but La Salle would trim the margin to 42-32 at the break on a Jerrell Williams (11 points) trey.
After the Owls scored the first four points of the second half, the Explorers answered with 10 straight, six from Williams, to cut it to 46-42.
Then Temple took command. The Owls went on a 27-10 run with Moore tallying eight of his points to take its largest lead of the game, 75-52, with 9:52 remaining. The Explorers never got closer than 13 the remainder of the game.
Temple shot a blistering 62.5 percent (20-32) from the field in the second half, and 52.2 percent for the game. The Owls also forced 22 turnovers while only committing six miscues
Aaric Murray led La Salle with 22 points while Ruben Guillandeaux added 17 in his final collegiate game.
#2-seed Temple, who improved to 26-2 in A-10 quarterfinal games, next plays #3-seed Richmond, who posted a 55-45 win over the #6-seed Rhode Island in their quarterfinal, in the semifinals Saturday (3:30 p.m./CBS College Sports/1210 AM WPHT).
