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Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals Recap(1) Temple 69, (8) St. Bonaventure 51
File this one under the more things change, the more they stay the same. Temple’s convincing and relatively easy victory this afternoon was their 13th in a row over Bona. Making matters worse for the Bonnies and the boisterous Bona students that had chanted “we want Temple” during the waning moments of Bona’s 83-71 opening round win over Duquesne was the fact that today’s quarterfinal game just wasn’t that much of a contest. Temple opened the game with a 24-8 run and put together a separate 20-8 run, spanning the end of the first half and the beginning of the second. The Big Picture: Fran Dunphy’s Owls looked every bit like the A-10 top seed that they are in this afternoon’s victory, leading from buzzer to buzzer. Sophomore Argentinean guard Juan Fernandez began by the game by knocking down three triples and dishing out three dimes in the 24-8 run start to the game, while Ryan Brooks and Lavoy Allen did the job in the late first-half and early second-half run that finished off the Bonnies. The Good: The Owls may not have played the perfect game today, but Juan Fernandez came awfully close. All the sophomore point guard and on-campus matinee idol did was knock down 4-of-5 threes on his way to scoring 17 points. He also dished out 7 assists without a single turnover in 34 minutes. Temple isn't a deep team. Fernandez has to have several repeat performances if the Owls are going to go on a deep March run.
The Bad: One can't really blame the Bonnies since Temple has so clearly been the better of the two teams this season, but Bona's tentative start might have just cost it the game. Lower seeds can't give up lay-ups and four-point plays in succession and expect to win games. Yet, that's what Mark Schmidt's squad did this afternoon. When a team that plays defense as well as Temple does, a 16-point deficit might as well as be a 32- or even 64-point deficit. The Ugly: Rugby scrums look like a New York City Upper East Side ladies’ luncheon compared to how the paint on Temple's end of the floor looked this afternoon. Yes, the Owls were physical. Yes, Bona kept going inside to super sophomore big Andrew Nicholson. And, yes, Nicholson, who shot 58 % from the floor on the season, made only 5-of-18 shots from the floor. Hmm... something just doesn't make sense here. Could it be that, while Nicholson didn't have his best game of the season, the refs just swallowed their whistles? To Mark Schmidt's everlasting credit, he didn't infer that anything other good, aggressive defense by Temple was to blame for Nicholson's poor performance. But still…
What's Next? Temple will be squaring off with fifth-seeded Rhode Island in the first semifinal tomorrow. The Owls swept the Rams this season, but both games were tightly contested, and Rhody figures to be highly motivated since it is a team in desperate need of two more wins in the A-10 tourney. For Mark Schmidt, whose Bona teams have made strides the past few seasons, it's all about finding pieces that mesh with Nicholson.
By: Tim Coyne |