Colapso En San Juan

Temple squandered a 10-point lead in the final six minutes and Mark Tyndale missed an off-balance jumper in the waning seconds as the Owls dropped a 66-64 decision to Providence in an opening round game at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic on Thursday afternoon in San Juan.

Quite simply, the Owls were out-toughed at the end by a Providence team that never really found an offensive rhythm and allowed the Owls to shoot 52 percent from the floor.

The game was painfully reminiscent of Temple’s season-ending loss to St. Joseph’s in last year’s Atlantic 10 Tournament. In that contest, the Owls surrendered a late 12-2 run to the Hawks and never got a chance to re-tie the score.

On Thursday, Providence went on a 14-0 run that turned a 62-52 deficit into a 66-62 lead with 1:11 to go. But the Owls got a chance to tie the score after Dionte Christmas scored on a putback and the Friars committed a 35-second shot clock violation with nine seconds to go.

On the final possession, Coach Fran Dunphy bypassed a timeout as the Owls had already determined that Tyndale would take the ball upcourt and look to score or pass to an open shooter. Coming off a high screen from Christmas, Tyndale drove to the hole and shot an off-balance one-hander as he drew a slight bump from Providence forward Alex Kellogg. The shot was off-target, and the final buzzer sounded as Semaj Inge scrambled to grab the rebound.

Temple lost despite shooting 52 percent from the floor and limiting Providence to a 44 percent shooting clip. The Owls also compiled a 31-27 rebounding edge, though they committed 16 turnovers. Providence committed 12.

For the first 35 minutes, it appeared the Owls would win on the strength of Christmas (19 points), Inge (15 points), and a terrific setup performance by senior point guard Chris Clark (11 points, three assists). Clark got the start in place of freshman power forward Lavoy Allen, who was benched by Dunphy for violating team rules.

Actually, the Owls gained control of the game thanks to their solid man-to-man defense, which prevented the Friars from establishing anything on offense. Playing without junior guard Sharaud Curry, their top returning scorer, the Friars got the occasional three-pointer from guards Dwain Williams (17 points) and Jeff Xavier (12 points) and some inside buckets from all-purpose forward Geoff McDermott (13 points).

The Owls pushed to an 18-7 lead at the 10-minute mark before Providence pushed back and went ahead, 28-26, on a Williams three-pointer with 1:26 left until halftime. But the Owls answered with a Clark three-pointer and a fastbreak layup by Tyndale just before the buzzer to take a 33-29 lead.

The Friars switched to a 2-3 zone in the latter part of the first half and stuck with it for the first eight minutes of the second half. That was fine with the Owls, who spaced the floor correctly and made clean passes to create open shots from three-point range and a few cutting layups.

Tyndale hit a three, then cut to the hole and hit a layup off a pass from Sergio Olmos. Minutes later, Clark did the same off a pass from Olmos. Then Clark hit a three. After another Tyndale layup gave the Owls a 52-45 lead, Coach Tim Welsh pulled the Friars out of their zone.

The lead grew to 11 points, and appeared to be solid at 62-52 following a Christmas putback with 6:02 remaining. Then Xavier hit a deep three-pointer. The teams traded turnovers, and Christmas missed a long three-pointer. Providence cut the lead to 62-58 after Xavier missed a three, but Kellogg grabbed the offensive rebound and passed the ball to Williams for another deep three.

Temple had two good scoring chances during Providence’s run – but Olmos walked after catching the ball in the lane and Tyndale missed the front end of a one-and-one. Meanwhile, the Friars got four free throws and a pair of layups to take a 66-62 lead.

The Owls will face Charleston in a consolation game on Friday night.