April 4, 2008
PHILADELPHIA -
Temple University junior Dionte Christmas has won the Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball scoring title, becoming just the third player to win the league's scoring title in consecutive seasons. Christmas, who averaged 19.7 points per game, edged out Massachusetts senior forward Gary Forbes, who ended his season in the NIT title game Thursday night with a 19.4 scoring average.
"This is a nice honor, but does not compare to winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship," said Christmas. "I would never have been able to accomplish this without the help of my teammates and my coaching staff."
"Dionte had a tremendous season," said Temple head coach Fran Dunphy. "He is not only a gifted scorer, but a team player. We are thankful we will have him back for another season."
Christmas joins Rutgers' John Battle, who led the A-10 in scoring in 1983-84 & 1984-85, and St. Bonaventure's Earl Belcher (1979-80 & 1980-81), as the only players to accomplish the feat. No player has led the A-10 in scoring in three straight seasons.
The 6-5 guard has scored 1,381 points to rank 26th on the Temple all-time scoring list. His 670 points scored this season is the 12th highest total in the 114-year history of Owl basketball.
The Philadelphia native (Philadelphia Lutheran Christian Academy) also set a new single season record for three-point field goals with 104 made. He now has connected on 212 three-pointers for his career to rank sixth on the TU all-time list.
A First Team all-Atlantic 10 Conference selection, Christmas earned A-10 Player of the Week honors three times during the 2007-08 season and his seven career weekly honors ties him for fourth on the A-10 all-time list. Former teammate Mardy Collins, now with the NY Knicks, also had seven A-10 Player of the Week honors, to tie Christmas for most in Temple history.
