February 22, 2009

John Lamb| A10CollegeHoops

PHILADELPHIA – It was Dionte Christmas Bobblehead Doll day at the Liacouras Center on Sunday afternoon but Lavoy Allen ended up being the star of the show en route to a 70-56 victory over the visiting Saint Bonaventure Bonnies.

Allen put up 20 points and grabbed 18 a career-high rebounds. He was so dominant early on that he picked up his 10th double-double just eight minutes into the game.

To put his performance in perspective, Allen grabbed 14 rebounds through the first 20 minutes of play; the Bonnies (13-13, 4-9 A10), as a team, had 13.

Allen said Coach Fran Dunphy has been challenging him in practice to become a more prominent part of what the Owls (17-9, 9-3) are trying to do on the court.

“[Coach Dunphy] tells me that he wants me to be more aggressive, take more shots and stop passing the ball so much,” joked Allen, who still dished out two assists.

Most of the 6-9 sophomore forward’s points came from put-backs and uncontested dunks. Temple’s guards were able to penetrate the lane at will and hit Allen with simple dump passes after the defense rotated.

Dionte Christmas pointed out after the game that while his production may be down over the past few weeks the contributions of players like Allen and Ryan Brooks have been more than enough to keep the Owls winning.

“The last couple of weeks I haven’t had to score 25 or 30 points for our team to be successful,” said Christmas, who has not registered a 20 point game since he scored 27 against Rhode Island on January 28. “We are a balanced team. For me to be out there scoring 30 or 40 points a game there is no need. But if we need it and the team needs me to do anything then I’ll do it. If I score 5 and we win that is all I care about.”

Dunphy acknowledged in his post game press conference that Christmas is a good leader for the team but that there are a lot of outside pressures that he has been faced with in recent weeks such as his quest to become the first three-time leading scorer in A-10 history and his candidacy for Player of the Year in both the conference and Big 5.

“Dionte is a good leader, he is a good human being and I think that is the nicest compliment anybody can have given to them,” said Dunphy, who also stated that they do not talk to Christmas about the NBA. “He cares about his team, he cares about his family and that is a nice way to be. He is not overly concerned by himself about himself but at the same time there are a lot of outside pressures acting on his person at this time and I think he is handling it the best he can.”

Temple received a big time contribution from Ryan Brooks. The junior guard scored 12 important points for the Owls as he continued to add to his reputation of being Temple’s most clutch shooter. His three-pointer with 11:36 left in the game stopped a mini-run by the Bonnies and extended Temple’s lead to double digits at 51-40.

Brooks also took a charge from Malcom Eleby on a play that looked liked it was going to be an easy layup for the visitors.

“I think the charge take was big, we were fortunate to get that charge call,” said Dunphy. “The biggest shot he made and maybe the biggest shot of the game was they were hanging at eight and he stepped  up right in front of our bench and hit a big, big three to bump it out to eleven. He’s been doing that four a couple of years now. I don’t think there is any question that he is our best clutch performer.”

The ever-persistent Bonnies were able to cut the Owls’ lead to seven midway through the second half thanks to an extended  14-3 run. Their run fell apart after the team was whistled for two technical fouls in the span on two minutes – one on Jonathan Hall and the other on coach Mark Schmidt.

For the game the Bonnies committed 27 personal fouls to Temple’s 14 and saw three of their starts foul out. Maurice Thomas, Andrew Nicholson and Hall all saw their days cut short thanks to too many fouls.

Temple’s 18 made free-throws nearly doubled the total amount of foul shots that Saint Bonaventure took (10).

Nicholson, the Bonnies freshman phenom, played an especially disappointing game. The 6-9 forward out of Canada scored just 6 points, 7 under his season average, in only 15 minutes.

The freshman also came into the game ranked fifth nationally and second in the A-10 with an average of 3.1 blocks per game. He did collect any on Sunday.

Chris Matthews and Eleby were the leading scorers for Saint Bonaventure with 15 and 14 points respectively.

Eleby, a Philadelphia native and Franklin Learning Center product, also led the Bonnies with six assists and six steals.

Dunphy was clearly impressed with the way Saint Bonaventure, a team that has been down for several years, played.

“Saint Bonaventure has a plan,” said Dunphy. “How about how scary they are going to be in a couple of years? They have a lot of really good young players. [Mark Schmidt] has built a nice program. They’re going to get better and they may make some great noise in the Atlantic 10 tournament as well.”

Temple now owns a 49-6 all-time record against the Bonnies, including a perfect 25-0 in Philadelphia.

Saint Bonaventure will host Saint Louis on Wednesday night and the Owls will be visited by La Salle on Thursday night.

POST GAME AUDIO: (right click and save as.. if you have trouble opening)
Dionte Christmas and Lavoy Allen post game audio
Fran Dunphy Post Game Press Conference

Lavoy Allen - Temple Owls (F)  

February 18, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Lavoy Allen scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds Wednesday as Temple cruised to its fourth straight victory, a 72-45 win over Fordham.

Dionte Christmas also had 14 points while Craig Williams contributed 11 points and Ryan Brooks had 10 for the Owls (16-9, 8-3 Atlantic-10).

Jio Fontan scored 14 points and Jacob Green added 13 for the Rams (3-20, 1-10), who dropped their fifth in a row. Fordham has lost 13 of its last 14 and fell to last place in the 14-team conference.

Temple led 33-22 at halftime and 42-29 with 14:40 remaining before going on a 19-4 run.

Allen scored eight points and Christmas had six during the key spurt, which extended Temple’s lead to 61-33 with 6:15 left.

Allen registered his team-high ninth double-double of the season as the Owls outrebounded Fordham 41-31.

Jason Duty tries to pass against Temple's zone (Photo courtesy: Stacy Gault)

February 15, 2009 by Josh Taylor | A10CollegeHoops  

When considering Duquesne’s last three games, including their upset victory over then ninth-ranked Xavier on February 7, the constant trend is the Dukes have had a hard time maintaining leads and finishing games.

That was the recurring sentiment among the team after falling to Temple, 78-73, in a Sunday matinee at the A.J. Palumbo Center in which they led by as much as eight points midway through the first half. They held the Owls’ talented senior guard, Dionte Christmas, to 15 points on 4-of-15 shooting, but could not overcome a late second-half collapse, combined with the clutch shooting of Ryan Brooks and freshman Juan Fernandez.

“I thought our kids really did a great job on Christmas today,” Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart said at the postgame press conference, “and I thought our game plan worked out really, really well. It was unfortunate because they got a lot of production out of the other two [guard] spots.”

Temple got out to an early 9-5 lead in the first half, but then Duquesne scored seven consecutive points on a three-point play by Bill Clark, a steal and breakaway slam by Damian Saunders, and a pair of free throws by Aaron Jackson to make it 12-9. 

The Dukes maintained the lead through the end of the half, but missed a handful of opportunities to extend it, and an 18-7 run by the Owls in the last seven minutes of the half put Duquesne up by only one at the break, despite 11 points from Saunders and 10 from Jackson.

“When we have a lead, we need to take decent shots because we could have been up by 10 or 12 at halftime,” said Jackson, who finished with a game-high 21 points. “But we took poor shots and we didn’t shoot the ball as well.”

The second half was no more promising, as Christmas knocked down a three-pointer and a jump shot to put Temple up by four within the first two minutes. But Duquesne responded with a 9-0 run, capped off on a no-look pass from B.J. Monteiro to a cutting Saunders for a layup with 15:40 remaining.

After four ties and seven lead-changes in the second half, Temple took a 62-58 lead on a Brooks three-pointer. He shot 3-for-4 from behind the arc and finished with 11 points. Clark, the Dukes’ top outside shooter, second in the conference in three-point percentage, answered with a three of his own, and Duquesne was back within one.

The next three possessions for the Dukes would embody the struggles they have faced in their last three contests, including going nearly the final eight minutes in the win over Xavier without a field goal. Freshman point guard Eric Evans missed two open three-point attempts, and then Jackson missed on a driving layup opportunity. Two layups by 6′9″ sophomore Lavoy Allen sandwiched around a made free throw, plus two free throws by Christmas gave Temple the seven-point surge they needed to grab a firm hold on the lead and keep it the rest of the way.

“We had three straight possessions where Evans missed two wide open three’s — and I mean they were wide open,” Everhart said, “and then Jackson comes down the lane, and that same layup that he made against [George Washington] and against Charlotte… he missed it.

“Those three possessions really hurt us because they had the dribble-drive with Allen, and Christmas got fouled on the dribble-drive and made two free throws.”

A layup by Jackson, followed by two free throws and another pair from Clark cut the deficit to four, but a nice spin and layup on a post-up move by Fernandez on Jason Duty broke the Dukes’ back with 41 seconds left. An Argentina native having enrolled in only December, Fernandez shot 7-of-9, including 2-for-4 from three-point range for 19 points, and his performance was not lost on the host team.

“I was impressed watching him a couple of weeks ago,” Jackson said of Fernandez. “I saw him on TV and I thought he was going to be a really good point guard in this league. He runs the team really well, he’s a phenomenal passer, and he’s really poised to be a freshman.”

Sophomore forwards Bill Clark and Damian Saunders have had to assume veteran roles due to Duquesne's young roster (Photo courtesy: Stacy Gault)

Speaking of youth, Everhart refused to blame the loss on his roster’s lack of experience. Having eight scholarship freshman and only one scholarship upperclassman, Duquesne has one of the youngest rosters in the country based on average age.

“I wish we had better depth, especially up front,” Everhart said, “but we have what we have. I think Clark and Saunders are giving us everything they’ve got, but in our backcourt, we’ve got to have one of our guards step up off the bench and be more productive for us.”

“It’s always tough when you get a loss, or you’re going on a two-game losing streak, but I think it’s just that we’ve got to come together, have a meeting or something, and get everybody on the same page,” Saunders said. “We have guys going off, being wild, and trying to play their game, but it’s really a team effort.”

The Dukes have five games remaining on their schedule, including a week off before visiting LaSalle and Massachusetts in a three-day span. One win in those last five games will secure a winning season for the Dukes, the second in Everhart’s three years as head coach and the program’s first consecutive winning run since the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons.

“I know it’s getting old, but we’ve got to learn from our mistakes,” Jackson said. “We need to just dig in and say, ‘enough is enough.’ We’ve got to start pulling out these wins.”

February 12, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Dionte Christmas had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Temple held off a late run by Saint Joseph’s, beating its longtime rival 61-59 in another city series thriller Thursday night.

The Owls (14-9, 6-3 Atlantic 10) needed this conference win more than the first-place Hawks and maintained their hold on fourth place in the standings. The first four spots earn the coveted bye in the A-10 tourney next month in Atlantic City, N.J.

Ahmad Nivins scored 21 points for the Hawks and got the better of Christmas in a battle of the two leading scorers in the conference. Christmas is on track for his third straight scoring title, but the personal goals can wait.

Christmas wants to lead the Owls into the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.

This one appeared over when Temple had a late 11-point lead, but that vanished in the final two minutes. The Owls missed 11 free throws in the final 2:28, letting the Hawks back in the game and nearly allowing them to pull off the comeback win.

But, the two-point game shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. This was either the 146th meeting (according to Temple) to 144th meeting (according to SJU) and each of the last five games have been decided by five or less points.

This was the first matchup for the longtime city rivals since Temple won the A-10 tournament championship game last March. The Hawks made the tournament with an at-large bid and came into the Palestra as winners of nine of 10.

Besides Nivins, the Hawks had no reliable scorer, especially on the perimeter. They hit a pair of late 3s that only gave them six total jump shots.

But it was enough to inch them back into the game.

Nivins kept Saint Joseph’s faint shot at victory alive on a dunk with 21 seconds left that cut it to 58-53. Garrett Williamson calmly made his two free throws for the Hawks and it was 59-57 with 10 seconds left.

Juan Fernandez, a 70 percent free-throw shooter, missed the first, and another packed Palestra crowd erupted at the home of the Big 5. He hit the second to make it 60-57 with 9.2 seconds left.

Williamson was fouled again with 6.2 remaining and went to the line for the 1-and-1. He made both and it was 60-59.

Fernandez then went 1-for-2 and the Hawks missed a desperation shot.

Semaj Inge had 11 points and Sergio Olmos added 10 for the Owls. Tasheed Carr scored 14 points for the Hawks.

The Owls used an 18-0 run stretched over the first and second half to build a double-digit lead. The Hawks missed 10 straight shots in the same span before going on a short spurt that pulled them within six.

Christmas hit a layup and Craig Williams hit a 3 that pushed the lead back to 11. Williams hit another arching 3 from the corner with 8:30 left for an 11-point lead.

Nivins dunked off an offensive rebound and it was 49-41 with 5:45 left.

No worries for Temple. Christmas drilled a 3 and let out a “Whoo!” as he backpedaled down court. Williamson came right down and hit a 3-pointer. It was that kind of game.

Christmas tossed up an awkward jumper trying to draw a foul and the ball banked in for a 54-43 lead.

Christmas and Inge each hit 3s during a 14-0 run and the Owls made their last six of the half to take a 29-21 lead into halftime.

February 8, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Lavoy Allen scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in leading Temple to a 68-62 victory over Rhode Island on Sunday.

Dionte Christmas added 19 points and Craig Williams 12 for Temple (13-9, 5-3 Atlantic 10), which hit on 26 of 55 shots.

Keith Cothran had 16 points for Rhode Island (16-8, 5-4), while Jimmy Baron added 13.

The Owls led 48-30 five minutes into the second half, but Cothran helped rally the Rams to within 64-57 with 3:17 left to play. Rhode Island closed to 66-60 on a 3-point shot by Lamonte Ulmer with 1:36 to go, but Christmas hit two free throws at 0:19 to end the threat.

Baron, hampered by a sore back, played only 26 minutes, but connected on 5 of 6 shots in the game.

February 5, 2009 | AP Press

CINCINNATI, OH – No one at Xavier has done this since David West was knocking them down.

B.J. Raymond scored 24 points and led a 3-point barrage that swept Xavier to its 11th straight win Thursday night, an 83-74 victory over Temple that kept the ninth-ranked Musketeers perfect atop the Atlantic 10.

Facing a defense that clamped down inside, Xavier (20-2, 8-0) made most of its big shots from far away, following Raymond’s lead. The senior forward went 5-of-7 from behind the arc, and freshman Brad Redford made four 3s as Xavier knocked down 11 in all.

It was Raymond’s fourth straight 20-point game, the best such scoring streak since West was a sophomore eight years ago.

“That’s my specialty — I’m a shooter,” Raymond said.

It’s been more than that. Raymond has taken it upon himself to take shots at big points of the game, even when he’s tightly guarded.

“B.J. Raymond is arguably playing right now as well as any player in the country at his position,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said.

Temple (12-9, 4-3) was looking for a bookend Top 10 upset — the Owls knocked off Tennessee in December — but couldn’t come close as Xavier made sure the conference’s top scorer got few open shots. Dionte Christmas had only 12 points on 6-of-16 shooting.

Christmas leads the conference in scoring for the third straight season, averaging 20.5 points per game. Raymond stuck with him in Xavier’s man-to-man defense, making sure he didn’t get an open shot. Christmas missed his first four attempts — one an air ball — against the tight coverage.

“That was probably one of the best defensive performances I’ve had,” Raymond said. “It helped also that he got in foul trouble.”

Christmas seemed to get frustrated as the game went along. He picked up his third foul for bumping hard into a player he was guarding at midcourt — a poor decision. In his last two games, Christmas is 0-for-9 from behind the arc.

“They didn’t do anything special,” Christmas said. “They just played hard-nosed defense. They had B.J. Raymond on me. He has a large wingspan and is a great defender.”

Someone else would have to come up with a big game to keep Temple in it. Surprisingly, Sergio Olmos was the one to do it.

The 7-foot center didn’t even attempt a shot in Temple’s 74-65 win over Richmond on Saturday. He made hook shots and jumpers while scoring 10 points in the first half, which ended with Xavier ahead 38-34. Olmos and Lavoy Allen scored 18 of Temple’s first 20 points while Xavier chased Christmas around the court.

Xavier is one of the nation’s best at getting the ball inside and drawing fouls, so Temple took away the pass inside, leaving the perimeter open at times. The Musketeers took advantage by going 7-for-11 from behind the arc in the first half, with Raymond hitting four 3s.

In a one-minute span, Raymond and Redford combined on three 3s.

“They created some havoc for us in the first half,” Owls coach Fran Dunphy said. “The versatility — that’s what makes them so strong. We didn’t defend them very well. Their balance is terrific.”

Raymond hit another 3 during a 10-point run that put the Musketeers in control 52-39 with 13 minutes left. Reserve forward Jamel McLean had five rebounds, a putback and a free throw during the spurt.

Olmos and Lavoy couldn’t keep up their first-half pace, and things got grim for the Owls when Christmas picked up his fourth foul with 11:48 to go. Consecutive 3s by Redford pushed the lead to 17 points midway through the half. Temple never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Xavier point guard Terrell Holloway sprained his left foot during an 82-80 win over Massachusetts on Saturday, leaving his availability in doubt. He started and moved well, but was ineffective — finishing with five turnovers and was 0-for-4 from the field.

“Terrell has to play better,” Miller said. “The [foot] is fine. We’re playing in spite of him. He’s got to make better decisions. He can’t throw the ball to the other team.”

January 31, 2009 by John Lamb | A10CollegeHoops

PHILADELPHIA – Semaj Inge scored 19 points for Temple as the Owls defeated the visiting Richmond Spiders 74-65 in an unusual contest on Saturday Night.

The game was a tale of two halves for the Owls (12-8, 4-2 A10) and Spiders (11-10, 3-3). The first 20 minutes looked more like a grade-school CYO game than a Division I match-up. The second half saw both teams set new Liacouras Center records for offensive proficiency.

The first half was an exercise in futility for both squads as they put up some rather inauspicious stats. Richmond took a 4-0 lead at the 16:47 mark but did not score another basket until there was 4:40 left in the half. The Spiders missed a total of 11 shots during that stretch.

Both teams combined to shoot just a hair over 22 percent for the half. Richmond was 1-of-10 from three-point land while Temple was 2-of-8. The teams also committed 15 turnovers through the first 20 minutes.

Temple took a 16-13 lead into the locker room at the half. The 29 points was the lowest combined scoring output by two teams in the history of the Liacouras Center.

So what did Temple Coach Fran Dunphy say to the Owls during the intermission?

“He said it was going to be a low-possession game so every possession is going to be crucial so we can’t have empty possessions,” said Inge of Dunphy’s halftime speech. “Our offense is going to dictate our defense so if we come down and take a bad shot they probably going to get a run-out and get a good shot so we just have to take care of the ball and take good shots.”

The Owls heeded Dunphy’s advice as they only turned the ball over five times in the final 20 minutes. They scored the second half’s first eight points. And the Owls showed some resolve when the Spiders took the lead at 25-24 thanks to a 12-0 run.

Inge was instrumental in keeping the Owls in the game as he scored 17 of his career-high 19 points in the second half. He seemed determined to drive to the basket every time he touched the ball and, as a result, put several Spiders in foul trouble.

“It’s  really good to see, he’s a good man and I root for him like crazy,” said Dunphy of Inge. “But he is inconsistent, that’s just who Semaj is. And we kind of have to live with that, we’re going to have to live with that over the next 10 games. Hopefully there is some arriving by Semaj even this late in his career that he won’t be as inconsistent as he has been.”

Inge did not do it all by himself as four other Owls scored in double figures. Lavoy Allen scored 10 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for his seventh career double-double, Ryan Brooks scored 13, Dionte Christmas scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and Juan Fernandez scored a career-best 15 points off the bench.

The second half looked more like the match-up featuring the A-10’s leading scorer, Christmas, and the highest scoring guard combination, David Conzalvez and Kevin Anderson.

The Owls scored 58 points in the second half, which was the most they have scored this season. They also made 38 free-throws, the most ever by a Temple Owls team. They took 33 foul shots in the final 10 minutes of the contest.

The Spiders committed a total of 33 personal fouls and three of their players, Anderson, Francis-Cedric Martel and Kevin Smith, fouled out of the contest.

Gonzalvez, the A-10’s seventh leading scorer entering the contest, dropped 36 points on the Owls. His total was the most by an opposing player in Liacouras Center history and tied for fifth all-time with for Temple great David Hawkins.

The game also saw Craig Williams return to action after sitting out Thursday night’s 67-59 loss at Rhode Island due a knee injury. The forward played 9 minutes off the bench. He did not look to be 100 percent as he was often trailing the play and picked up two quick fouls during his only run of the first half.

His replacement in the starting lineup, Sergio Olmos, was not much more effective as he had an empty stat sheet in 15 minutes of playing time. Due to the lack of production from big men not named Allen, Dunphy switched to a four guard offense for much of the second half.

The Owls will have tomorrow off before preparing to head to Cincinnati on Thursday night to take on the Xavier Musketeers before a national audience on ESPN2.

Post Game Audio: (right click and save as… if you have trouble heading audio)
Semaj Inge and Juan Fernandez Post Game Audio
Fran Dunphy Post Game Press Conference

John Lamb can be contacted at johnlamb@a10collegehoops.com

January 28, 2009 | AP Press

KINGSTON, R.I. — Kahiem Seawright scored 17 points to lead Rhode Island to a 67-59 victory over Temple on Wednesday night.

It was the first time this season Rhode Island (14-7, 3-3 Atlantic 10) won while scoring fewer than 70 points.

Temple’s Dionte Christmas led all scorers with 27 points, but scored just five in the final nine minutes.

Temple (11-8, 3-2 A-10) managed to slow the fast-paced Rhode Island offense, holding the Rams to four fast-break points, but the Rams executed well in the half-court, connecting on 51 percent of their shots, 26-for-51.

Point guard Marquis Jones directed an efficient offense, doling out six assists and turning the ball over once. He scored nine points and Jimmy Baron added 13. URI held Temple to one field goal and six points in the final nine minutes of play.

Ryan Brooks scored 12 points for the Owls.

January 24, 2009 by John Lamb | A10CollegeHoops

PHILADELPHIA – For the second game in a row the Temple Owls showed that they do not need their senior All-America candidate to be on top of his game for them to win.

The Owls (11-7, 3-1 A10) cruised to an 80-53 victory over the visiting Charlotte 49ers (6-12, 1-4) on Saturday night thanks to 19 points from senior guard Semaj Inge. He tied a career high that was set earlier this season at Penn State.

Inge was efficient from the floor as he shot 8-for-12. He also hit a career-high three three-pointers. The guard credited freshman Juan Fernandez for his success.

“The first Juan came over and played with us I just thought he was an outstanding passer so I just knew if I found those spots that I could get myself the ball I knew he would get it to me,” said Inge, who came into the night averaging just 6.5 points per game.

Dionte Christmas, who scored only eight points before being pulled from Temple’s 65-40 victory over the Saint Louis Billikens due to a cut over his eye, was not his normal self. He scored 12 points but missed five of his seven three-pointers and eight shots overall.

Still, it was evident from the outset that the 49ers were focusing their defensive efforts towards Christmas and Ryan Brooks. This allowed Inge to step up and deliver a big-time effort for the Owls.

“It looked like they were trying to hedge their defense towards Dionte and Ryan Brooks and it left Semaj open and he certainly knocked it out,” said Fran Dunphy, who guided the Owls to the 1,700th win in the program’s history.

Sophomore forward Lavoy Allen had another complete game for the Cherry and White. He put together the fifth double-double of the season – and the sixth of his young career – with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Allen also tied a career high with four blocks.

Fernandez once again drew oohs and aahs from the 5,700 in attendance. He dished out four assists but also committed three turnovers. To his defense, two of them were passes that should have been pulled in by his teammates. Dunphy, however, would like Fernandez to make plays without trying to impress everybody.

“I’d like him to get rid of the ’style point’ idea,” said Dunphy. “As coach Chaney and I have discussed, Pepe [Sanchez] did the same thing when he first got in there and Coach Chaney said he had to cure him of it so I’ll try my best to cure Juan of it. The spectacular will come when your as solid as you can possibly be.”

Brooks added 11 points and six rebounds. Senior co-captain Sergio Olmos played his best game since the Owls upset of Tennessee in December. He scored six points and picked up an assist in just 13 minutes on the floor.

The 49ers looked unmotivated from the start, which was surprising considering they came into the game on a high note after an impressive 69-64 overtime victory against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen on Wednesday night. Their only lead of the night came when DiJuan Harris hit a free throw to make it 1-0 with 17:50 left in the first half.

The Owls outscored Charlotte 43-16 from that point on to take a 26 point lead into the locker room at the half. Dunphy was impressed with the way his defense played the first 20 minutes of the game.

“We talk about that a lot as a group how we have to hang out hat on our defensive play because some nights you are going to come out and knock it out like we did on Thursday and we weren’t shooting it very well tonight,” said Dunphy. “I thought we had some decent looks but the ball didn’t go down. I was pleased about how we guarded, especially in the first half.”

Lamont Mack had an off night for Charlotte as he scored 12 points on just 3-of-15 shooting. He did pull down a team-high nine rebounds. Phil Jones led the 49ers in scoring with 14 points, one point under the career high mark he set against Tulsa earlier this season.

This game had some extra meaning for the Owls as the legendary John Chaney, who collected 516 wins and 17 NCAA appearances in his 24 years patrolling the sidelines on North Broad Street, was inducted into the Temple Hall of Fame in a ceremony before the game.

His successor on the sidelines had nothing book good things to say about Chaney after the game.

“He has an aura about the city of Philadelphia,” said Dunphy. “I went over the the receptions earlier today and listened to other people talk about him whether it was Governor Rendell or Peter Liacouras. He is revered around here and should be. For him to be inducted into the Temple Hall of Fame – it probably would’ve come long before this if he would’ve accepted it but knowing him he probably didn’t want to hear about it. He is a great man and as I have said to a couple of different people he has done so much for so many that you are never going to hear about and I think that is the quality of his person.

Both teams will be back in action on Wednesday as Charlotte will travel to Cincinnati to take on Xavier and the Owls will head north play the University of Rhode Island.

POSTGAME AUDIO: (right click and save as… if you have trouble opening files)
Ryan Brooks and Semaj Inge Post Game Audio
Fran Dunphy Post Game Press Conference

John Lamb can be reached at johnlamb@a10collegehoops.com

January 22, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Lavoy Allen scored 16 points and Craig Williams added 11 as Temple cruised to a 65-40 victory over Saint Louis on Thursday night.

Allen shot 8-for-10 for the Owls (10-7, 2-1 Atlantic 10), who connected on 28 of 52 shots. Dionte Christmas, the A-10’s leading scorer, sustained a cut over his eye with 13:17 left and did not return.

Tommie Liddell had 12 points for Saint Louis (11-7, 2-2), which was held to its lowest point total of the season. Leading scorer Kevin Lisch, averaging 13.8 points, was held scoreless and missed all 10 of his shots.

The Owls, who hit nine of their first 10 shots, build a 27-7 lead midway through the first half.

Hitting from the inside and outside, Temple raced to a 43-16 halftime advantage. Allen led the way, shooting 6-for-6 from the field.

The closest the Billikens came in the second half was the final 15-point margin.

Saint Louis freshman guard Kwamain Mitchell collided with a teammate with 2:29 left and sustained a neck injury. He was carried off the court and taken to a hospital for observation. There was no immediate word on his condition.