Bubble Trouble

La Salle caught Temple flat-footed in compiling a 22-2 advantage in fastbreak points on the way to scoring a 70-63 victory over the Owls on Thursday night at The Liacouras Center. The loss delivered a serious blow to Temple's hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

As the Atlantic 10 men’s basketball season comes down the home stretch, the league race is very much like a horse race, with each school jockeying for position.

The top six teams in the conference all entered Thursday’s action with three to five losses in league play. The top four receive byes in the first round of the A-10 Tournament, which opens in Atlantic City on March 11.

As Xavier (11-3 A-10) defeated Saint Joseph’s (7-6) a couple miles away, Temple hosted La Salle in a Big 5 matchup with significant influence on the conference race -- not to mention the Owls’ hopes of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Temple’s chances at a top seed in Atlantic City and its at-large resume both took a serious hit with a 70-63 loss to the spunky Explorers (15-12 overall, 6-7 A-10). The Owls dropped to 17-10 overall and 9-4 in the league, and saw their season-high five-game winning streak snapped.

“We had our (opportunity) tonight, and we chose not to accept it,” said Coach Fran Dunphy, whose squad now faces a difficult road test at Dayton on Saturday. “I just think La Salle played better than us and wanted it more than we did. Their will was certainly more than ours.”

Rodney Green paced La Salle with 22 points, including a three-pointer that snapped a 53-53 tie midway through the second half and gave the Explorers the lead for good. A steal and three-pointer by Dionte Christmas had tied the game on the previous possession, but Green quieted the crowd with his big shot from the top of the key.

“Kimmani Barrett made a great read and a great pass,” said Green of the play coming out of a timeout.

Said Dunphy: “That was the biggest play of the game.”

Green’s step-back three-pointer with just over two minutes to play gave La Salle a seven-point lead and was the final dagger. Barrett added 20 points for the Explorers.

Green, who had started 86 of his 88 career games before Thursday, came off the bench. He contributed eight assists and five steals in addition to his game high in points.

“We want to be fair to the kids who win in practice,” La Salle Coach John Giannini said of a lineup change that saw little-used reserves Darryl Partin and Steve Weingarten thrust into starting roles. “Every job is open, as much as I love Rodney and some of other guys. If you see a kid starting, it means his team won in practice. We had to kick ourselves in the butt a little bit.”

Said Green: “Coach explained it. You win in practice, you start. That’s the way it should be.”

The Owls turned the ball over 13 times and gave up 16 offensive rebounds in losing a home game for the first time since their opener against Miami-Ohio on Dec. 3. It was La Salle’s first win at Temple since the 1991-92 campaign.

The Explorers totaled 22 fastbreak points to just two for the Owls.

“When we missed, they just ran it down our throat,” Dunphy said.

Christmas scored 19 points and Sergio Olmos added 14 for the Owls.

“We didn’t pay attention to every detail we needed to,” Christmas said. “We let Rodney Green go off. We let Kimanni Barrett go off. Those guys wanted it more than us. They came out to win.”

Dunphy/Christmas Postgame: Listen to Audio

Giannini/Green Postgame: Listen to Audio