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Men's Basketball
Balanced scoring attack leads Temple past Bonnies
Feb. 20, 2008
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - Led by five players in double figures, Temple turned in its best offensive performance of the season as it ran past St. Bonaventure 96-82 on Wednesday night on Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center. Three Owls finished with 20 points helping the visitors finish with a season-best 96 points and move into a tie for second place in the A-10 standings with Saint Joseph's and Richmond. The loss is the Brown and White's (7-18, 1-10) fourth consecutive overall and third in a row at home. Temple's (14-11, 7-4) one-two punch of Dionte Christmas and Mark Tyndale combined for 42 points, but did more than just score. Both just missed recording triple-doubles as Tyndale added a career-best nine assists and eight boards, while Christmas also tallied eight rebounds with seven assists. Reserve senior guard Chris Clark scored a career-high 20 points, while Ryan Brooks and Lavoy Allen added 15 and 14 points, respectively. Senior Michael Lee led four Bonnies in double-digits with 23 points. Lee connected on 9-of-18 from the floor, including a pair of threes, for his 14th outing of 20 or more points. Senior Tyler Relph led St. Bonaventure in rebounding for the second-straight game with seven boards while adding 19 points. Relph drilled five long range field goals to support his seventh double figure outing in nine games. Zarryon Fereti added 14 points and freshman forward Matt Morgan had 13 points. After the opening 10 minutes yielded a 19-19 tie, Temple broke open the game in a big way over the next five minutes with a 24-5 run. Senior Chris Clark doubled his season average during the run, accounting for nine points on a trio of three-pointers. The final 10 minutes of the half proved to have to halves of its own as the last five minutes of the frame belonged to the Brown and White. The Bonnies fought their way back into the game before the break, using a 14-2 run to climb within seven, 45-38, at the break. Senior Tyler Relph jump started the run with his 28th and 29th consecutive makes at the free throw line and capped things with his second three of the game. The Bona frontcourt accounted for the other nine points via two buckets from freshman Matt Morgan and five points by Lee.
Temple failed to register any points over the final 3:37 of the first half, missing its season-high first half point total by five. Fereti drew the Bonnies to within four, 46-42, with four points in the opening minute of the second half. The Owls then began a series of three 7-0 runs that alternated between the two clubs eventually resulting in a 60-49 lead with 12:55 remaining. Following Temple's first 7-0 run, St. Bonaventure pushed across seven straight points of its own on the scoreboard to cut the lead to four for the second time in the half, at 53-49. Fereti notched the first three points of the run, making it seven-straight for him to begin the half, while Lee capped the run with two field goals. Just like they did earlier in the half, the Owls quickly distinguished the Bona run with another 7-0 run for a 60-49 advantage. Unlike its first 7-0 run, Temple sustained the momentum as it built an 18-point lead, 76-58, by the third media timeout of the half. Despite a solid offensive performance, the Brown and White couldn't overcome giving up 80 or more points for the seventh time in eight games. As a team, St. Bonaventure passed out 18 helpers with just 10 turnovers. Temple was hitting on all cylinders on offense, hitting 58 percent (35-60) from the field, 94 percent (16-17) from the line and 42 percent from three (10-24). The Owls passed out a season-best 24 assists on their 35 field goals. St. Bonaventure will hit the road for the first of its three remaining road trips as it travels to Amherst, Mass. to take on Massachusetts. The two teams will square of for a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. at the Mullins Center. |
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