Senior point guard Chris Clark sank a three-pointer with 1.9 seconds to go to lift the Temple men’s basketball team to a 90-88 victory over Ohio University on Thursday night at The Liacouras Center.
It was Temple’s first home game after a 2-4 start, which included two two-point losses and a three-point loss at the buzzer. This time, the Owls got the last laugh in a frenzied finish.
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Trailing for most of the game, but never by more than seven, the Owls pushed ahead when top scorers Dionte Christmas (29 points) and Mark Tyndale (26 points) starting getting some help from their teammates.
Scoreless for nearly 35 minutes, sophomore guard Ryan Brooks drilled three three-pointers in the final six minutes. His last one gave the Owls an 87-85 lead with 22 seconds remaining.
But the Bobcats went back ahead thanks to a schoolyard play by senior guard Bubba Walther, who split his legs like an airborne cheerleader on a three-point attempt with eight seconds to go. Referee Mike Roberts was fooled into calling a foul on Christmas, who made contact with Walther as he crashed to the floor.
Walther, a 90 percent foul shooter, sank three free throws to give his team an 88-87 lead.
Following an Ohio timeout, the Owls inbounded the ball to Tyndale, who raced into the frontcourt and passed it to Clark on the left wing. Coach Fran Dunphy said afterward that he thought the shot looked good as soon as it left Clark’s hands. Walther missed a halfcourt heave at the buzzer.
Temple survived its first pure shootout of the 2007-08 campaign, despite being unable to stop Ohio forwards Leon Williams (31 points, 8 rebounds) and Jerome Tillman (16 points, 10 rebounds). Freshman forward Lavoy Allen (10 points, 5 rebounds) did his best to stay out of foul trouble against Ohio’s experienced, powerful seniors.
But the Owls had the advantage on the perimeter, with Christmas bouncing back from a 3 for 14 shooting performance at Akron earlier this week. He sank 10 of 15 field goal attempts against the Bobcats. Tyndale did a little bit of everything, leading the team with 10 rebounds and five assists.
At the start, 5-11 point guard Bert Whittington stunned the Owls with an offensive burst. He nailed three three-pointers in the first eight minutes and had 15 points at halftime. But he was held scoreless in the second half, when he was often defended by Christmas.
Temple did a nice job defending Walther, Ohio’s best perimeter shooter. Long before the final sequence, Walther was trying to bait Christmas into committing a cheap foul. He paid the price when he fell to the floor after a wild three-point attempt when the Bobcats had an 83-82 lead. Christmas raced ahead for an uncontested layup that gave the Owls an 84-83 lead with 1:01 remaining.
Once again, Clark and Luis Guzman split time at point guard. Guzman had the most efficient performance of his short career, totaling five points, four assists, and no turnovers. But he gave way to Clark (6 points, 2 assists) for the final 11 minutes.
For the third time this season, the Owls shot better than 50 percent from the floor. They lost on the previous two occasions against Providence and Charleston. It helped that the Owls committed a season-low 11 turnovers.
For Ohio, the finish was painfully familiar. In their previous game at Holy Cross, the Bobcats lost, 62-60, on a layup at the buzzer.
One other note, Dunphy drew a technical foul near the end of the first half. Asked afterward how long it’s been since he got a technical, Dunphy said it might be somewhere close to 10 years.
Temple will host Towson next Thursday at The Liacouras Center.