Temple University Athletics
Temple University
11-4, 1-1 A-10
Saint Louis
13-4, 1-2 A-10
Wyatt Scores 22; Owls Get First A-10 Win At Saint Louis, 72-67
1.11.12 | Men's Basketball
Box Score (PDF) | Fran Dunphy Video
ST. LOUIS, MO. - The Temple Owls picked up their first Atlantic 10 victory of the season on Wednesday evening, as they defeated Saint Louis, 72-67, handing the Billikens (13-4, 1-2 A10) their first loss at Chaifetz Arena this season. Junior Khalif Wyatt was a perfect three-for-three from beyond the arc and shot 9-of-13 from the field on his way to setting a game-high 22 points. Senior Ramone Moore also had a productive night, chipping in with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting.
It was a much needed win for Temple (11-4, 1-1 A10), which dropped its A10 opener at home to Dayton Saturday to end its record streak of 25-consecutive wins at the Liacouras Center. And the Owls accomplished it in arguably the A10s toughest venue.
Saint Louis was 9-0 at home this season entering the game and 50-14 overall in the building which opened four years ago. The Owls are now 7-3 in road/neutral games. No other conference team has more than five victories away from home.
"This is an unbelievable win tonight," said Temple head coach Fran Dunphy. "I am really proud of our guys. We did not play as well as we needed to on Saturday. I think we had a little bit of a Duke hangover. I thought we really stepped it up tonight. I thought our effort was great. I thought our attention to detail was great and our timeliness of shooting was very good."
In a tightly-contested first half, Temple overcame a seven-point (13-6) early deficit to take a 32-30 lead at intermission. The Owls shot 53-8 percent (14-26) in the period and won the battle of the boards, 15-14.
Temple never trailed after intermission, shooting a blistering 59.3 percent (16-27) from the field, and a perfect three-of-three from behind the arc courtesy of Wyatt.
The reigning A10 player of the Week was sizzling during one stretch, hitting all three of his treys during an 11-5 run to extend Temple's lead to 47-39 with 12:38 to play. The Owls pushed the lead to nine, 51-42, two minutes later on a lay-up by junior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson (12 points).
The Billikens ran off seven of the next nine points to trim the deficit to four (53-49), but Wyatt then delivered consecutive jumpers to bring the lead back to a comfortable 57-49.
Then it was Moore's turn. Following seven straight SLU points that cut the lead to one, Moore drove in for a three-point play, then buried a jumper to make it 62-56.
Saint Louis refused to go quietly, scoring the next five with Kwamain Mitchell's trey making it 62-61 with 2:14 remaining.
Senior guard Juan Fernandez then found sophomore guard Aaron Brown underneath with a nifty pass. Brown, wo was fouled, made the basket and subsequent free throw to give TU a 65-61 advantage.
Hollis-Jefferson then stole the ball at midcourt, and went down the floor on a give-and-go with Moore lobbing it to him for a highlight reel one-handed slam.
Dwayne Evans (14 pts) made a basket to cut the margin to four. Then Moore held the ball near the halfcourt line for most of the 35 second shot clock before driving the lane and finishing with a one-handed jumper.
Mitchell, who scored all of his team-high 16 points in the second half, drained a long three-pointer with 28 seconds left. Moore followed with two made free throws.
SLU had one last gasp. After Rob Loe made the second of a two shot foul to make it 71-67 with 0:13 on the clock, the Billikens stole the inbounds pass. Mitchell's trey missed the mark this time and Moore pulled down one of his seven rebounds to seal the win.
The Owls' 56.6 percent shooting was their best of the season, just 0.2 percent better than their win over Duke. TU also made five of seven from behind the arc for a season-best 71.4 percent.
Redshirt freshman Anthony Lee, playing in front of nearly 25 of his family and friends who bussed from Iowa, scored six points, pulled down a game-high nine rebounds and made three blocks.
Temple will continue its road trip when it gets back in action on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. for another road game, this time against Richmond. The game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network and can be heard on 1210 AM WPHT.
