DENVER, Colo. - Drew Naymick, in an effort to draw a foul, made on of the worst flops of all time. He threw himself onto the floor face first and body surfed about five feet. Then, he had the gall to get up and complain. The refs got a good kick out of that.

I'm getting hungry already and I have another game to go. Fortunately, pretzels are the snack du moment in the press room.

Temple has cut the lead to 10 with 3:21 left on four straight run outs because MSU is just going through the motions on offense (as opposed to running a motion offense). Izzo just called a timeout to have a four-letter word with his charges on finishing the game.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St seems to have sucked the will out of Temple as they continue to lead 52-38. The Owls haven't quit, but they keep taking one step forward and two steps back.

Temple is now zone pressing full court, but Michigan St is breaking it with ease.

The teams for the next game have left the arena to go get dressed.

Andy Katz just got up and said, "I'm projecting a winner. I'm going to watch Georgia and Xavier in the press room." We may see a lot of that.

The Temple cheerleader girls are still positive and perky. The guys look like they have been watching the game. Maybe the want to go watch Georgia and Xavier also.

The crowd muttered when the Georgia-Xavier score was announced (now tied at 49). I don't think I've ever seen 18,000 more disinterested people at a basketball game. It's so quiet that I can hear almost everything the refs say, and even the coaches from across the way.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St has scored the first seven points of the half to run their lead to 16, and Temple was forced to call timeout.

Dionte Christmas is just trying to do too much. He's forced a shot that was an airball, then forced a pass that turned into points at the other end.

Temple's owl mascot has a strange looking head. It's flat, and I always thought owls had round heads. It has bright yellow eyes and a silver beak. It's like an alien owl.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St leads Temple 35-26 at the half. After struggling through most of the first part of the half, MSU finally got hot with about seven minutes to go.

Drew Neitzel has three points, which he picked up on a long ball with 51 seconds left. However, he committed his second foul with 0.8 seconds left, which earned him a lecture from coach Tom Izzo (looking sharp with his electric purple tie).

Temple could build one with the bricks they layed in ths first half. They shot 8-27 for just short of 30%, and few of those 19 misses were close. Christmas and Tyndale both airballed threes and then complained about being fouled. Christmas was right. Not so sure about Tyndale. Those numbers would have been a lot worse, but Ryan Brooks hit three baskets for eight points late, and he leads the Owls with 10. Christmas hasn't scored and Tyndale only has 2.

Nine different players scored for the Spartans, led by six each from Kalin Lucas and Raymar Morgan. MSU backdoored the Owls for layups or dunks three times as Temple lost guys on defense. That play seems to be there whenever MSU wants it.

I don't want to harp on this, but this crowd would fit in well in a library. Even the Spartan fans aren't too geeked up. The place is filling up though.

In the press area, folks are gathered around the TV watching Georgia leading Xavier. The Temple folks were not too happy, with one guy in particular repeating, "they better wake up."

Posted by Jerry Palm at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Temple is now shooting below 25%, which isn't going to get it done if it expects to pull this upset. MSU has used a 13-2 run to go ahead 28-17 with 3:41 left.

Dionte Christmas got hacked on a three-point attempt that wasn't called. However, when the ball sailed out of bounds without hitting anything, the MSU fans didn't even bother with the airball chant. That's how dead this crowd is.

Christmas has both of Temple's fouls and hasn't scored. Tyndale finally got on the board with 5:32 left, and that's the Owls' 2 points in this Spartan run.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St leads 17-15 at the 8-minute timeout as the stars for each team continue to struggle. Morgan's four points is all there is. Neitzel, Christmas and Tyndale still have nothing.

Lavoy Allen and Sergio Olmos have stepped up for Temple, with 9 of their 15.

Michigan State's offense is spread out with five guys in the books, besides Morgan.

Temple's offense seems to be happy with a lot of dribbling and not much passing. MSU is getting much better ball movement and better shots, but they aren't falling.

The Owls are doing a good job keeping MSU off the glass though. All things considered, Temple has to be happy with where they are.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St has been pretty physical with their defense against Temple, and it seems to be causing problems for Christmas and Tyndale.

The Owls 7-footer, Olmos, has been pretty aggressive and has four points, but he's out for the moment. As soon as he went out, the Spartans got their first put back of the game.

On the floor now for Temple is 5'8" Chris Clark, who looks some of the MSU front line guys right in the navel.

It's been a pretty clean game so far. Only two fouls have been called, both on MSU.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The stars of the respective teams in this game are not off to a scintillating start. Raymar Morgan posted up for the first basket of the game, but walked in transition, giving away a dunk. Neitzel has missed his first two threes also.

For Temple, Christmas has taken one shot and it was forced. Tyndale hasn't put it up yet, but Temple leads 7-6.

MSU has three unforced turnovers, a trend that must stop.

The arena is maybe half full, and the crowd isn't really into it yet.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - I made my way up to the concourse to see what sort of food choices I have if I get the munchies during the game. One thing I remember from last year is that the quality of the food the media gets is hit and miss, and they won't be slopping us pigs until after the first two games.

There are a lot of choices, but beer isn't one of them. No alcohol is sold at NCAA tournament games, so the mojito stands are also closed.

They have the usual stadium fare; hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, etc. The hot dogs are $4.50 for a little one and $6.75 for a footlong. Pizza is six bucks a slice.

Also, the pop being sold is Pepsi, natch, so while those of us in the media are given Dasani cups (Coke's water brand), the fans are all holding Pepsi cups.

They also have things like fish and chips, BBQ turkey sandwich, and my favorite, sausage on a stick. I think all food should be sold on sticks. Pudding on a stick. Eh, that idea still needs some work.

They also have a cheesesteak stand, but one of the things they sell is chicken cheesesteaks. I think I saw a pack of Temple fans picketing.

Michigan St just took the floor led by a cheerleader carrying a big Spartan flag that was so dirty, it looked like it had been vandalized. You would think a school like MSU could get a new flag once in a while, or at least wash the current one.

Hank Nichols seat has been abducted by a woman who is a friend of the Brands. I warned her that some coach might accost her thinking she was in charge of the officials, but she says she's ready. I think she'd give what for if they tried it.

The National Anthem was performed by the Michigan St pep band, under the direction of John Madden. Instead of cymbal crashes, he just yells, "BOOM!"

Posted by Jerry Palm at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - It's 9:30 AM local time, and the sound of the bouncing ball is ringing through the Pepsi Center in Denver, even though many of us are still not fully caffeinated. OK, mostly I'm talking about me.

Michigan St and Temple are warming up for the first game and the crowd is starting to file in. The bands are still setting up, so it's relatively quiet.

I'll be curious to see what kind of crowd we have. There isn't a team here that is anywhere near local. Oral Roberts is the only team that traveled less than 600 miles to get here, and Washington St is the only team for which this site is the closest. Notre Dame obviously has fans everywhere, they tend to show up more for football than hoops.

My seat, in case you are looking for me on TV, is basically right at center court behind Mike Montgomery, the former Stanford coach, who is doing radio for Westwood One. To my left is the CBS crew of Gus Johnson and Len Elmore.

My seat is so good that I'm closer to center court than Andy Katz, who has a seat directly to my right. In fact, press row is a pretty tight squeeze. Andy may have to sit in my lap. Or vice versa. He's bigger than me.

To my left is Hank Nichols, who will be retiring as the National Coordinator of Men's Basketball Officials from the NCAA at the end of this tournament. As a former ref, I'm pretty excited to be sitting by him. Next to him is a seat for Myles Brand, the Grand Poobah of the NCAA (possibly not his real title, but I'm too lazy to look it up).

Meanwhile, I have just been handed the starting lineups for game one.

Michigan St will start Kalin Lucas and Drew Neitzel at guard, forwards Raymar Morgan and Goran Suton, and C Drew Naymick.

For the Owls, they start guards Luis Guzman and Dionte Christmas, forwards Mark Tyndale and Lavoy Allen, and center Sergio Olmos.

Our officials are Mark Whitehead, Ken Ditty and Michael Eades.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stop me if you've heard this one before -- the internet connection is down at the NCAA tournament site in Denver.

Last year St Louis had significant internet connectivity issues as well.

Then, on top of that, I had trouble connecting back in my hotel room, although you can tell by the fact that this is posted that I got that worked out. Not so sure about the arena.

The Pepsi Center seems like a nice place although its a bit strange to be drinking Coke here. Coke is one of the corporate partners of the NCAA. I wonder if they will give the building another name for the duration of our stay.

Here is a little preview of what we will see here tomorrow.

Continue reading "NCAA Tournament Preview: Denver" »

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "A10: Temple's Dancing -- Ole!" »

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Temple opened the second half on a 15-2 run and never looked back, beating Saint Joseph's 69-64 to win the Atlantic 10 Tournament and earn its first NCAA bid since the Elite 8 team in 2001.

Dionte Christmas scored 22 points to lead the Owls, who also got 15 from Chris Clark. Ahmad Nivins had 18 for the Hawks, who are 21-12 and must now wait until tomorrow night to see if they earn an NCAA bid.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dionte Christmas stripped Pat Calathes on a drive to the basket, and Temple is holding on to a five-point lead, 64-59, with just 48.8 seconds to play.

A Pat Calathes jumper cut Temple's lead to four with 1:54 to play; the Hawks then took their final timeout. Mark Tyndale wasn't able to get a shot off before the shot clock expired on the next possession.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Saint Joseph's isn't letting this one get away that easily. But after a Rasheed Carr bucket closed the Hawks to three points, Mark Tyndale got his first field goal of the game while being fouled. He converted the free throw. It's now 63-57 with just under 2:30 to play. Tyndale has a pair of FTs coming up after the media timeout.

Ryan Brooks has 13 -- including 10 points this half -- for the Owls, while Pat Calathes has 12 and Ahmad Nivins 18 for the Hawks.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- While there are definitely more Saint Joseph's students here tonight, Temple's fans have all the props: Awkward signs with "ESPN" spelled out in the middle of words, Christmas wreaths (really), a sign with a dude's phone number on it. But the #1 Temple fan is not the kid in the anti-Penn State shirt -- he has been here for all three Owls games -- but a rather large student with the Temple logo shaved into his chest hair.

Dionte Christmas hit a three-pointer to put Temple up 9 at one point, but Saint Joseph's has closed back to 50-46 after a pair of Pat Calathes free throws. There's 8:40 left in this one.

Oh, Grizzlies assistant coach/player Aaron McKie, another Temple alum, is here as well. One wonders where Ron Rollerson is.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Temple's lead got as big as 7 before Tasheed Carr stopped the bleeding with a three-point play on a layup with just under 13 minutes to play.

Saint Joseph's is still playing catchup after Sergio Olmos hit a layup down the other end. It's 43-37, with 11:52 remaining.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dionte Christmas now has 17 points, and Temple has clawed back to take the lead, 39-34, after Chris Clark followed up his three-pointer with a steal and layup. It's a 15-2 run to start the half.

Lavoy Allen opened the second half with a dunk, and Christmas followed it up with a three-pointer to cut the lead to 2. Ahmad Nivins has the only bucket of the second half for the Hawks.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Saint Joseph's jumped out to a 15-5 lead and has never trailed, leading Temple at halftime of the Atlantic 10 Tournament final, 32-25. The Owls are shooting just 7-for-26 (26 percent) but have stayed in it hitting half of their 10 three-point attempts.

Ahmad Nivins has 12 points and 5 rebounds for the Hawks. Dionte Christmas is 3-for-5 on three-pointers and has 12 for Temple. Mark Tyndale is 0-for-5 from the field and has just 3 points. Temple's turned it over 8 times to 4 for Saint Joseph's.

Darrin Govens is 4-of-8 from the field for 9 for St. Joe's.

Saint Bonaventure, who didn't make the Atlantic 10 tournament, had two students absolutely dominate the 2-ball NBA Jam-esque hot spot shootout championship and won $10,000. The team from Bonaventure was pretty much the only one that could actually shoot!

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Yeah, the two games between these teams ended in one-point finishes. But Saint Joseph's was down 11 in its win and Temple trailed by 12 four minutes into the second half of its win. Right now, the Hawks are up, 27-21, with 3:36 remaining in the first half, after leading by as many as 10.

Dionte Christmas is almost singlehandedly keeping Temple in this one. He now has 12 points. Ahmad Nivins now has 10 and Pat Calathes, back in the game after sitting with 2 early fouls, has 4.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dionte Christmas hit a free throw to complete a four-point play after being fouled by Garrett Williamson, and Temple is right back in it at 19-15.

Ryan Brooks had hit a three-pointer on the previous possession. Ahmad Nivins now has 8 for Saint Joseph's. Christmas has 4 for TU. The Owls would have closed within a point, but the refs ruled Chris Clark pushed off before hitting a three.

Saint Joseph's is getting a bucketful of offensive rebounds.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Darrin Govens, who scored 3 points the last Saint Joseph's-Temple game, already has 7 after this three-pointer gave the Hawks a 15-5 lead just under seven minutes into the first half. He had 7 in the first game between the the two teams.

Dionte Christmas missed back-to-back open looks at three-pointers, but Pat Calathes picked up his second foul on the rebound and has been taken out. Mark Tyndale also missed a pair of follow attempts about a foot from the rim. Temple only has one field goal, by Lavoy Allen.

Rob Ferguson just picked up his second foul of the game right before the second media timeout. There's 11:49 left in the first.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Ahmad Nivins' reverse jam gave him four points and Saint Joseph's is out in front, 8-5, at the first media timeout just over four minutes in. Mark Tyndale hit all his free throws after Pat Calathes fouled him on a three-point attempt.

Nivins has a pair of FTs after the media timeout ends.

Boardwalk Hall is finally buzzing tonight after a week of less-than-stellar crowds. Yesterday's crowds were decent-sized, but things are definitely hot tonight. Former Temple guard Mardy Collins -- who, unfortunately, has to play for the Knicks now -- is here. Earlier in the week, former Princeton coach Pete Carrill was in attendance.

Unfortunately, there were no celebrities here as big as the man down the boardwalk: The Iron Shiek, who was part of a comedy tour at the House of Blues last night.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Two Philadelphia schools meet for the third time this season with an NCAA Tournament bid on the line as second-seeded Temple meets fifth-seed Saint Joseph's in the Atlantic 10 Championship at Boardwalk Hall.

The Hawks stunned Temple, 68-67, on a Pat Calathes three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left on Jan. 26, while a Mark Tyndale with 22.3 seconds to go pushed Temple past the Hawks, 57-56, on March 2. Temple led almost the entire way in its home loss; St. Joe's led almost the entire way in Temple's win at the Palestra earlier this month.

Both teams controlled the play throughout their games yesterday; Joe's upset 10th-ranked Xavier, 61-53, while Temple shut down a game Charlotte squad, 60-45.

The Hawks are playing their fourth game in four days, having routed Fordham on Wednesday and Richmond on Thursday. Temple got a bye into the quarterfinals and scored the final 11 points to push past La Salle on Thursday night.

Both schools are among the best shooting teams in the country; the Owls' effective field goal percentage, which weights made three-pointers, is 54.5 (19th nationally). Saint Joseph's has a 54.8 eFG percentage, 14th in the country. Both teams are in one of the various bracket predictions online, but one team won't have to wait 'til Sunday to find out if its in.

It will be the 31st consecutive year a team from the Big 5 makes the NCAA Tournament. Tonight's game tips at 6.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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!

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 09:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Temple scored the final 11 points of the game and held off a game La Salle squad, 84-75, to become the third team to advance to the Atlantic 10 semifinals.

It was a few role players who helped Fran Dunphy's squad over the top. After La Salle's Darnell Harris hit a three-pointer to give the Explorers the 75-73 edge, Sergio Olmos -- who had 10 second-half points -- hit a lay-up. Chris Clark hit a pair of free throws to give the Owls the edge by two, then hit a three pointer that bounced high off the rim before going through to put Temple up 5 with under a minute to play.

La Salle's Yves Mekongo Mbala and Harris missed threes the next two tips down the court, and that was pretty much it for the Explorers.

Dionte Christmas scored 29 points for the Owls, who also got 14 each from Mark Tyndale and Sergio Olmos. Chris Clark scored 12, including 6 in the final 1:35. The Explorers outrebounded Temple by 1.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Back and forth, back and forth! This feels more like a heavyweight fight than a Big 5 battle. After a Darnell Harris three -- he now has 18 -- gave La Salle the lead, Sergio Olmos hit a lay-in to tie the score. Two free throws by Chris Clark has put Temple back ahead, 77-75, with 1:30 left.

Dionte Christmas has 27, but it's been role players Clark (8 points), Ryan Brooks (8) and Olmos (14) who have helped Temple hold off La Salle's best shot. Yves Mekongo Mbala has 16 points and Rodney Green has 20 for the Explorers.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Was there any doubt? La Salle went on a 15-2 run to erase an 11-point deficit and take the lead.

Temple came right back with a pair of three-pointers; the Owls now lead 67-65 with 6:46 to play. Dionte Christmas has 25 for Temple, while Kimmani Barrett now has 11 for La Salle.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Sergio Olmos has been a one man conquistador the second half, with four easy layups in the first five minutes, but he's now on the bench after picking up his fourth foul. That's unfortunate, because every time Olmos scores the Temple student section -- which now doubles La Salle's in size -- sings "Olé, olé, olé" in unison.

Temple continues to hold a comfortable edge, increasing it to 11 on a Lavoy Allen jam with just over 14 minutes left in the game. Back to back threes have put La Salle right back into it, though; the Owls are now up 59-54 with just under 12 left.

Darnell Harris is scoreless in the second half, but backcourt-mate Rodney Green has a pair of buckets in the second half and has 14. Yves Mekongo Mbala now has 11.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dionte Christmas had a real horrorshow first half, dropping 19 points as Temple leads by eight, 43-35. He's 7-of-10 shots and made all his two-point attempts. Temple's Mark Tyndale is 3-for-4 from the floor for 11; he also has six rebounds.

La Salle has two players with 10 points, Darnell Harris (who had 2 for most of the half) and Rodney Green. The Explorers have 7 offensive rebounds. Temple is shooting 55.6 percent from the floor, and both teams have three triples.

The halftime show tonight: Another trampoline act! This one is the "dunk off the trampoline" variety as opposed to last night's tumbling act. It's called the Extreme Team and had one of its members jump over the entire TU cheerleader squad. They also get really, really excited whenever one of them dunks it.

My favorite Extreme Team member is the fat one.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Darnell Harris now has 10 for La Salle as Temple leads 38-31 with just under four minutes left in the first.

Harris only had two before getting a bucket on a strange goaltending call on Temple's Sergio Olmos. Rodney Green has 10 for the Explorers, while Mark Tyndale has 11 and Dionte Christmas 17 for Temple.

The La Salle fans chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!" at Olmos, a Valencia native, as he shot free throws. One enterprising Temple fan is wearing an anti-Penn State t-shirt.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- It took a while, but La Salle finally scored on a Yves Mekongo Mbala follow lay-in. Temple was up by as many as 11, 15-4, and now leads 19-9 with just under 11:30 left in the first half.

Dionte Christmas has 9 and Mark Tyndale 4 for the Owls. Forward Rodney Green has 5 for the Explorers.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dionte Christmas just scored five straight points as Temple is fast out of the gate indeed, jumping to a quick 9-0 advantage on La Salle just four minutes in.

New fact you're about to learn: Temple's mascot, Hooter the Owl, wears a size 56 jersey. There are a decent amount of fans at Boardwalk Hall for Temple and decent-sized, very spirited student sections from both schools.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The third quarterfinal tips off at 6:30 here right by the ocean's edge as Temple and La Salle meet for the second time this season. The Owls are 18-12, finishing off the season with a four-game winning streak -- including a 85-66 drubbing of the Explorers in the season finale.

The Explorers are looking to get to .500. Last night, they edged Duquesne by 3. The game is a contrast of styles: La Salle is much smaller and averages just under 71 possessions a game; Temple averages only 65.6.

The Owls play it slow but shoot the lights out; their effective field goal percentage is 54.5, 19th in the nation. Dr. John Giannini's La Salle squad is led by Darnell Harris, a 6-1 senior who shoots the lights out. Temple counters with Dionte Christmas, who tied for the league's scoring lead at 20.3 ppg. Temple's Fran Dunphy runs a very tight rotation, so the Owls may be looking to get out early.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)