Temple University Athletics
Teamwork Helps Owls Win Another Big 5 Classic Against La Salle
1.19.12 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA - Though not necessarily unfamiliar territory, the hardwood of the Liacouras Center continued to serve as kryptonite for La Salle University as the Owls eked by the Explorers 76-70 to improve to 12-5 on the season.
The two teams, divided by short stretch of North Broad Street, usually go head-to-head three times a year -- once on each team's home court and a third in Boardwalk Hall when the Atlantic City venue plays host to the A-10 Tournament.
Tonight's game was the first of such meetings -- meetings that usually involve student-created paper rollouts with witty quips aimed at the opposing team, the trademark that typifies what it means to be a part of the Big 5 tradition.
Though not technically a Big-5 rivalry game, both La Salle and Temple put on a show that certainly appeared reminiscent of the city-wide competition as both teams spread the scoring wealth around.
Temple had four players reach double-digit scoring with Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson posting a career-high 19 points, followed by Ramone Moore (17), Khalif Wyatt (12) and Juan Fernandez (12). For La Salle, it was Tyreek Duren leading the Explorers with 18 while Ramon Galloway and Earl Pettis contributed 17 and 12 points, respectively.
As Temple head coach Fran Dunphy described it, tonight's match up was a battle of wills.
“It's one of those games where you make one more play than they [do] and you get the win,” he said of the Owls' ability to manufacture a victory..
Playmaking was not a problem for the Owls, who pride themselves on a history of playing unselfish basketball. Of the eight players who logged minutes in tonight's game, all but two posted at least one basket.
“That's our style of basketball,” said senior guard Ramone Moore of the team's propensity to seek out the extra pass. “We pass the ball around.”
Temple's passing game seemed to cause problems for the Explorers defense, who couldn't quell Temple's red-hot 51.9% shooting.
“Temple's offense is very hard to stop,” La Salle head coach Dr. John Giannini said after the game. “They have so much quickness out there with four guards and Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson at short forward.”
That is not to say that Temple was slacking on defense, however.
Collectively Temple cleaned up the glass, snagging 38 rebounds to La Salle's 27 with sophomore Aaron Brown grabbing six off the bench to tie his career-high.
Blocks were also a critical part of Temple's defensive showing tonight. The team combined for a total of 9 -- five of which belonged to redshirt-freshman Anthony Lee, making it a career high for the 6'9” forward.
On paper it may seem as though the Owls cruised to an easy victory over La Salle -- a team they have beaten in their five previous meetings -- but that wasn't necessarily the case tonight. Nor will it be of the rest of conference play this season, according to Moore, as the Owls search to find their groove.
“We're a streaky team,” he said. “This season is different. We want to try to stay consistent. It's just going to be a grind this year. Any [A-10] team's liable to beat you.”
Even without the Big 5 title, tonight's win is another notch in the Owls' belt that they hope will help propel them into a cushion of consistency, and eventually the madness of March. But in order to get there, they'll have to watch their backs navigating a cut-throat conference slate.
by Kami Mattioli, Owlsports.com columnist
