2011 Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Tournament - Quarterfinal Recap |
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Temple Dominates City Rival to AdvanceOwls move on to A-10 semifinals - (2) Temple 96, (10) La Salle 76
Dr. John Giannini's La Salle Explorers went into Friday's quarterfinal matchup confident that they could compete with Big 5 rival Temple given their double-overtime win at St. Bonaventure on Tuesday night. But by the game reached the halfway point of the second half it became obvious that their season was going to end, as Temple shot 52.2% from the field and forced 22 Explorer turnovers in a 96-76 victory. Ramone Moore led five Owls in double figures with 23 points and Lavoy Allen grabbed 12 rebounds in addition to his 14 points. Aaric Murray led the Explorers with 22 points and 11 rebounds but also had five turnovers, and Ruben Guillandeaux (17 points) had six turnovers himself. Temple outscored La Salle 24-7 in points off turnovers, and when a Fran Dunphy-coached team gets that kind of edge they're tough to beat. La Salle was in the game early, leading 9-8 at the first media timeout with Tyreek Duren scoring five of the nine points. Temple would regain the lead on a pair of Aaron Brown free throws, only to have Devon White answer with a basket of his own.
A Lavoy Allen three-point play gave Temple a 13-11 lead with 14:03 remaining in the half, and neither team would lead by more than two points until Moore knocked down a shot to give the Owls a 20-17 lead with 10:25 to go. Temple went on an 8-0 run, taking a 24-17 lead on a Brown basket with 8:48 left in the first half. After Murray cut the lead down to four with a three-pointer Temple began to take control, pushing their lead into double figures for the first time on a Brown three with 5:11 to go. Two minutes later Juan Fernandez gave the Owls their largest lead of the half at 38-24, and the Explorers would get no closer than nine points by halftime. Temple pushed their 10-point halftime lead out to 14 in the first minute-plus of the second half, only to watch La Salle answer with a 9-0 run to pull to within fiver with 16:49 to go. But all that seemed to do was motivate Temple, who went on a 15-3 run by capitalizing on their efficient offense and La Salle's generosity with the basketball and cold shooting. From that point forward the Explorers would get no closer than 11, trailing by as many as 23 points with Temple unwilling to relinquish control of the game. Next up for Temple is three-seed Richmond, who locked down Rhode Island in the final game of the night.
Next Game: (3) Richmond vs. (2) Temple – 30 minutes after first Atlantic 10 semifinal between St. Joseph’s and Dayton, CBS College Sports Network
By Raphielle Johnson |