Owls Advance To A-10 Title Game

The Temple men’s basketball team is one win away from its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001 following a 60-45 victory over Charlotte in the Atlantic 10 semifinals on Friday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The Owls will face St. Joseph’s in the A-10 title game on Saturday night.

In the victory over the 49ers, Mark Tyndale led the Owls with 20 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Chris Clark added 13 points. Lavoy Allen played all 40 minutes and had nine rebounds, five assists, and three blocked shots.

Temple took an early 7-2 lead and extended it to 25-14 on Clark’s three free throws after getting fouled on a three-point attempt with 3:59 left in the first half. The Owls were up 28-19 at the break.

Dionte Christmas, who finished with a season-low six points, hit his only three-pointer of the night to give the Owls a 36-21 lead early in the second half. Later, Charlie Coley’s putback cut the deficit to 42-36. Leemire Goldwire’s three-pointer brought Charlotte within five, 44-39.

Temple responded with a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 51-39 with 3:23 left to play.

Charlotte made just 2 of 14 field goal attempts in the final minutes of the contest, perhaps due to the physical and emotional toll of its previous two tournament games. Or maybe it was just the Owls.

Goldwire led the 49ers with 18 points. Lamont Mack added 11 points and seven rebounds. Charlotte shot 27.1 percent from the floor and made 6 of 32 three-point attempts. The Owls shot 40.4 percent from the floor.

Temple compiled a 48-28 rebounding advantage, but had 19 turnovers. Tyndale had eight. Charlotte had 10. The Owls made 10 of 13 free throw attempts in the second half.

St. Joe’s advanced to the title game with a 61-53 victory over regular season champ Xavier.

Harvey Levine'sCharlotte-Temple Gallery