ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Hundreds of Temple students swarmed around Sergio Olmos, the center from Valencia, Spain, who had his hand high in the air to lead a chant.
"Ole, ole, ole, ole... ole... ole..."
It was a chant the Temple students did many times over the weekend, but none was happier than that one. The Owls are headed back to the NCAA Tournament. It's the Owls seventh Atlantic 10 Championship, most of any team, and first since 2001.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Charlotte closed as close as five points in the second half, but never really threatened as Temple led wire-to-wire in a 60-45 Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinal victory.
The Owls play Saint Joseph's with an NCAA Tournament bid on the line tomorrow night at 6.
Charlotte held Temple leading scorer Dionte Christmas to just 6 points -- he sat out eight minutes of the first half with 2 fouls -- but Mark Tyndale had 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Owls.
Leemire Goldwire, whose three-pointers in the final two minutes beat Rhode Island on Wednesday and UMass last night, had 18 points for Charlotte. Goldwire got a standing ovation as he left the court.
Lamont Mack had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Chris Clark had 13 points for Temple.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Leemire Goldwire just hit a layup, but Temple is two minutes away from the Atlantic 10 Tournament final. The Owls have a 56-44 lead with 1:56 to play.
Lamont Mack hit a three-pointer to cut Temple's lead to 9 with 2:44 to play, but the Owls have hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minutes.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Temple has some breathing room again, scoring seven straight to push the lead to 12 points.
Charlotte cut it as close as 5, but Ryan Brooks hit a jumper from the elbow and Mark Tyndale followed that up with a three to push the lead back up to 10. Lavoy Allen then hit another jumper; Tyndale has a 1-and-1 coming up after the media timeout.
There are exactly 3 minutes left in this one. A Temple win sets up an all-Philadelphia final against Saint Joseph's. The teams split this season, each winning by a point on a bucket in the closing seconds.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- While Charlotte was able to erase a 17-point halftime deficit in eight minutes yesterday, the 49ers still trail by 5 with seven minutes left in the second half tonight against Temple. It's 44-39.
Ryan Brooks has 6 for Temple, including a tough driving layup right after the second media timeout. After Charlotte cut it to 6, Tyndale hit one of his own. The senior has 14 points.
Leemire Goldwire has 16 for Charlotte, including a three-pointer that caused Temple to call the first timeout of the second half for either team.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Leemire Goldwire now has 13 points after a three-pointer and Charlotte refuses to go away for the third consecutive night as Temple leads, 40-32.
Ryan Brooks has 4 for Temple. The Owls' Lavoy Allen threw a crosscourt pass that nearly took off a fan's head in the first row.
Lamont Mack has been limited the first eight minutes of the half with 3 fouls, but hit a layup right after he returned. There's 11:40 remaining.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Mark Tyndale converted a three-point play just under two minutes in and Dionte Christmas has gotten on track as Temple has extended its lead to 36-23. He has 12 points.
Dionte Christmas hit a nice layup on a pass from Lavoy Allen for his first field goal. The Atlantic 10's leading scorer now has 6 after a three-pointer from the corner.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Temple is shooting just 37 percent, but the Owls are holding Charlotte to just 7-of-25 shooting (28 percent) and lead, 28-19, at halftime.
Chris Clark hit a three-pointer and a trifecta of free throws after being fouled on a three late in the first half. The man who fouled Clark, Dijuan Harris, crashed directly into my laptop after the foul. Dionte Christmas finally came back in and got his first point after splitting a pair of free throws after being fouled by Ian "Aqualung" Andersen.
Mark Tyndale appeared to be fouled on a three-point attempt as time expired in the first half, but no foul was called. He finished with 9 points. Chris Clark also has 9 for Temple. Leemire Goldwire has 8 for Charlotte.
Matt and Kelly from La Salle have a cheering section for their halftime shooting contest, but once again nobody really did all that well until George Washington's duo dropped "20" points. (Even then, though, some shots are worth as many as 8 points.)
Fordham's team joined Xavier in not scoring any points. Go Rams!
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Temple's leading scorer, Dionte Christmas, has been on the bench for most of the first half with two fouls -- but the Owls still lead, 19-14.
Chris Clark's three-pointer gave the Owls their first double-digit lead of the night. An'Juan Wilderness dropped two tough layups inside on consecutive possessions to cut the Temple lead to five.
Temple has a decent-sized student section, but it is noticeably smaller than SJU's was. The anti-Penn State Temple fan is back in the same spot with the same shirt. Good luck t-shirt, probably.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Charlotte's Leemire Goldwire has a pair of three-pointers, but Temple leads 16-8 midway through the first half of the second Atlantic 10 semifinal.
For the Owls, Mark Tyndale has 7 points and Sergio "Olé" Olmos has 4.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- With top-seeded Xavier falling to No. 5 seed Saint Joseph's, second-seeded Temple has a chance to turn Boardwalk Hall into the Atlantic City bureau of the Palestra if the Owls can beat upset-minded Charlotte tonight.
The Owls, paced by 29 points from Dionte Christmas, scored the last 11 points of the game to beat La Salle yesterday, 84-75. Charlotte rallied from 17 down at halftime to stun Massachusetts late last night. Leemire Goldwire hit two three-pointers in the final 62 seconds to give the 49ers the win.
The game tips off in just a few minutes.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Wow! Leemire Goldwire pretty much just beat UMass by himself. The senior finished hit a pair of three-pointers in the final minute to give the Atlantic 10 tournament its first real upset
Dante Milligan's follow tip-in put the Musketeers up two, but Goldwire hit a three-pointer to put the 49ers up 1 with just under a minute left. UMass missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and Goldwire drained a three from the top of the key with the shot clock running down.
UMass missed a bunch of shots at the other end before the buzzer; with Saint Joseph's and Temple advancing, the Musketeers' at-large bid hopes could be in trouble. Gary Forbes and Etienne Brower each had 14 for UMass.
Goldwire finished with 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting. Lamont Mack scored 23 and Charley Coley had 17 rebounds and 14 points. Charlotte ended the game on a 16-3 run; the 49ers pulled down an incredible 25 (!) offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Musketeers 52-29. UMass had 11 blocks.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Charlotte has tied! No matter how much UMass attempts to put the 49ers away, it can't. It's tied at 63 with 1:54 to play.
After Gary Forbes' driving follow layup rolled off the rim, Leemire Goldwire hit a three-pointer to cut the UMass lead to 62-58. After a free throw, Lamont Mack (23 points so far) hit a three on the next possession to cut the Musketeers lead to two. Charley Coley's layup tied it and forced UMass to call a timeout.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Gary Forbes' steal and drive has put UMass back up 9 points, 62-53, with 4:50 to play. Since the 49ers took a three-point lead, they've been outscored 15-3.
An'Juan Wilderness, who starred for the 49ers last night, has only 2 points. He's been in foul trouble and picked up his fourth with just over five minutes left.
UMass, meanwhile, has balanced scoring: Forbes and Etienne Brower have 14 while Ricky Harris and Chris Lowe have 11.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- And just like that, UMass is back in front.
Gary Forbes scored back-to-back layups to give the Musketeers the lead after Charlotte had taken a 3-point lead with just over 8 minutes to play. Chris Lowe's ensuing layup forced Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz to call a 30-second timeout with UMass up 55-50.
Etienne Brower has 14 for the Musketeers. Right before the eight-point run by UMass, the school's band played "Toxic." Clearly, this is not a coincidence.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Can you believe this? Charlotte has rallied from as many as 17 down to take a 48-47 lead with just under 12 minutes to play.
Lamont Mack has 20 for the 49ers and Leemire Goldwire has 14.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- UMass has pulled ahead, 39-23, just over two minutes into the second half. Pulling ahead here gives the Musketeers the chance to rest their players, which should help against Temple tomorrow.
The Owls played their top players a bunch today in the squeaker over La Salle: Dionte Christmas ran for 38 minutes and Mark Tyndale 36.
Leemire Goldwire continues to hold his own on the defensive end against Atlantic 10 POY Gary Forbes, but Charlotte has a big mountain to climb.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- UMass went on a 16-2 burst and has taken control of the game for a 20-9 lead with just over eight minutes to play. Gary Forbes has 3 points and, more importantly, two of the UMass cheerleaders have giant pairs of cardboard hands to cheer with.
Etienne Brower just hit his second three-pointer for the Minutemen. The 49ers are clearly tired, missing even open looks.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Charlotte's Leemire Goldwire has so far held Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Gary Forbes scoreless, but a three-pointer by Etienne Brower has given UMass a one-point lead over the 49ers, 8-7.
Neither team has really gotten into an offensive flow so far. UMass' mascot is here and essentially looks like every other colonial mascot (e.g. Colgate, Penn, etc., pretty much every one but George Washington).
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The final game today from Boardwalk Hall pits Massachusetts against Charlotte, comeback winners over Rhode Island yesterday. The Minutemen, the Atlantic 10's third seed, are 21-9 and ended the season on a six-game winning streak. Charlotte won yesterday on a pair of free throws from Michael Gerrity with 0.3 seconds left.
UMass is led by A10 Player of the Year Gary Forbes, who tied for the league scoring lead with 20.3 points per game. Fellow guard Ricky Harris was the league's most-improved player. Like a lot of the league, UMass plays an up-tempo style; the Minutemen average 76.1 possessions a game, third in the nation. Charlotte's a bit slower at 69.0 possessions per game, still 102nd in the country, but it should be a pretty fast-paced game.
The 49ers spent a lot of energy coming back against Rhode Island last night; it will be interesting to see how tired they look. While Xavier's win ended the chance for the Ultimate Bubble Elimination Atlantic 10 Tournament Final Four (Dayton/Saint Joseph's and Temple/UMass), a UMass win tonight would set up that second matchup.
UMass also has a player named Papa Lo. That's pretty good, but An'Juan Wilderness of Charlotte still has the best name in this tournament.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The game was tied. There were only eight seconds left. Yet Michael Gerrity seemed to take the ball up the court a little slowly. But with the seconds ticking down, Gerrity slashed to the hoop.
He was blocked -- but drew contact. Gerrity was just as calm was he was bringing the ball up the court, draining a pair of free throws to give Charlotte a 75-73 win. The first lead of the second half for the 49ers came with just three-tenths of a second left.
The Rams led by as many as nine in the second half but couldn't put a pesky Charlotte team away. URI pulled back ahead by six after Jimmy Baron converted all his free throws after Charles Dewhurst fouled him on a three-point attempt. Later, Will Daniels put the Rams up five with a free throw but Leemire Goldwire drained a long-distance three from the top of the key to close the 49ers to 70-68. After a pair of Baron free throws, Goldwire hit another three to close the gap to 1 yet again.
With URI up two, senior Atlantic 10 first teamer Will Daniels fouled out. Charlie Coley calmly drained a pair of free throws to finally tie the score with 37 seconds left. URI called two timeouts to set up the next possession but Parfait Bitee was called for an offensive foul for pushing off with his forearm with 8.2 seconds left, leading to the final play.
Stats and commentary on the final 10 seconds after the jump.
Continue reading "A10: Charlotte Tops URI On FTs In Final Second" »
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dayton won by a point in overtime. La Salle scored the final six points to win by 3. Okay, so Saint Joseph's bounced Fordham by almost 20, but the final game of the night is another close one. Charlotte has closed within one several times, but missed the front end of two one-and-ones while down by that margin. The 49ers still trail, 61-60, with just under four minutes left.
Rhode Island rolled off 8 consecutive points after the second media timeout and pulled ahead to its largest lead of the game at 9, but the Rams were hurt by a charge call on Will Daniels, his fourth, with nine minutes left. Daniels returned with about six minutes left. Forty seconds later, he drew the fourth foul on Charlotte big man Lamont Mack and hit a 1-of-2 free throws, blocked a shot down the other end, then drew another foul and split another pair.
Charlotte finally clamped down on Jimmy Baron; he's been scoreless for the past 10 minutes.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Rhode Island held around a 7-point edge for most of the early second half, but the Rams have closed to within a point, 51-50, with 11 minutes left. The Rams continue to throttle the game of Leemire Goldwire, who now has 10 points. Meanwhile, Rams star Will Daniels has gotten on track a bit for 11 points.
Jimmy Baron has 20 for the Rams. He had just 2 in 27 minutes in the March 8 game between the teams. Charlotte has tried a variety of defenders on Baron to little success. Another member of the all-name team, Parfait Bitee, has 5 points and has helped the URI defense's crackdown on Goldwire.
The 49ers cheerleaders have pulled out all the stops: Norm the Miner has been lifted in the air at the second media timeout. (To keep you up to date on mascot news: URI's Rhody the Ram is also in attendance.)
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Looks like we're in for our third close game of the day. Charlotte closed to within two, but Rhode Island's Will Daniels hit his first three of the game immediately after Charlotte closed to within two; the teams traded buckets for Rhode Island's 37-32 halftime lead.
The Rams' Jimmy Baron has 15 on a 5-of-10 shooting performance, including three triples. Daniels has 7 but is only 1-of-4 from the floor. An'Juan Wilderness has 10 and Leemire Goldwire has 8. Goldwire's 3-of-8 overall and 2-of-7 from three-point range.
The team stats are virtually identical, with URI shooting a little better (12-for-26 against 10-for-24) and has two more three-pointers.
The halftime show is the Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team, which was announced as having members "from some of the roughest parts of Chicago." I must say, they're pretty impressive. One of the tumblers has two Livestrong bracelets on, another did The Worm while jumping over perpendicular jump ropes. I'm going to see if I can find a website that will let me liveblog tumbling exhibitions after this tournament is over.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- That was quick. A couple of nice plays by Jimmy Baron, a couple of missed shots by Charlotte and suddenly the Rams are were up seven, 27-20. The score is now 30-23. Baron now has 15 points.
The URI fans behind the basket have grabbed a couple more boosters; they appear to also be students and not new recruits. A different section of URI fans has a girl of about 10 holding a sign reading "I'm from Charlotte but I root for URI"; her father is letting the referees have it.
An'Juan Wilderness has 10 for the 49ers.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Ahh, this is more like it. The pace is just a bit slower for this game so far. Okay, maybe a lot slower: Duquesne and La Salle had 29 combined points at the first media timeout; at the second one in Charlotte-Rhode Island, the teams had combined for just 19. Midway through the first half, the Rams are in front, 20-18. Both teams have led by a couple.
By far the sweetest play of the first half came from Charlotte's Michael Gerrity, who slashed down the right side of the lane and hit a reverse layup high off the glass.
Leemire Goldwire, who dropped 34 in Charlotte's 74-64 win in Kingston on March 8, has 5 points so far, as does An'Juan Wilderness (who also edges Duquesne's Reggie Jackson for best name of the night). For Rhode Island, junior guard Jimmy Baron has 8.
Hey, we have another game down here from the Monopoly board in New Jersey. The Atlantic 10's No. 6 seed, Charlotte, takes on No. 11 seed Rhode Island in tonight's nightcap. Both teams have decent-sized booster sections (especially considering the distance); Rhode Island even has a handful of students in "RHODY NATION" t-shirts.
One of them, with his face painted entirely blue complete with a blue mohawk, has begun exhorting other fans to join him in the student section. "Come on!" he's yelling. "I will buy you a beer if you sit in my section." It's also his birthday. Happy birthday, blue-faced Rhode Island fan!
Oh, there's also a basketball game, too. Rhode Island (21-19, 7-9 Atlantic 10) was ranked earlier in the year. The Rams opened the season 19-3 before stumbling; a six-game losing streak along with a season-ending loss to Charlotte four days ago probably ended any at-large bid hopes. Will Daniels, a first team All-Atlantic 10 section, averaged 18.8 points and 6.7 rebounds this year.
The 49ers ended the season with three wins, climbing back up into sixth in the league behind the play of Leemire Goldwire, who had six games with 30 or more points this year and also averaged 18.8 points.
The blue Rhody fan has yet to acquire any new rooters, and we're about to tip.
