Exhilarating finish to the regular season! Talk about wild
swings, I don’t recall a game where each team had a lead larger than 15 points.
Yet it was the Cherry and White who had the last lead, prevailing over #21 VCU,
and clinching a first-round bye in next week’s Atlantic 10 tournament. And,
most likely, assured themselves of a spot in the NCAA tournament
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At the 16:08 mark, the Owls had a 12-3 lead. The Cherry and
White didn’t score again until five minutes had passed, during which time VCU
ran off 18 consecutive points, making 8 straight shots. VCU built that lead to
16, with just over 3 minutes left in the first half. The Owls then ran off the
next 11 points, to cut the halftime deficit to 5.
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VCU entered the game creating more opponent turnovers than
all teams in the nation. Key to this game: VCU had more turnovers than Temple.
And the Owls had more steals than the visitors.
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A sellout was announced. While there were pockets of empty
seats, the Liacouras Center was awash in white, and charged in atmosphere. Lots
of Ram supporters came up from Richmond as VCU fans filled almost two entire
sections. And queues were everywhere: into, and of course, out of, the parking garage;
at the ticket window, stretching across the entire lobby; at the concession
stands; and the restrooms. But I’ll
gladly accept the lines rather than the desolate feeling from games where the
crows number no more than 4000.
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Four Owls, led by Khalif Wyatt’s 30 points, scored in double
figures. That’s an encouraging sign, as the owls have won 14 of 17 games in
which they’ve had four double-figure scorers. And Wyatt became the 12th
Temple player in history to score more than 600 points in a season, and has an
outside chance of becoming only the 5th to score 700 points.
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John Chaney was in the house, as was former President Peter
Liacouras, as they joined the 1986-87 team on the floor during a halftime recognition.
Dean Demopolous, assistant to coach Chaney, also participated in the ceremony.
Dean is presently an assistant coach with the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers.
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Probably among the top 5 games I’ve witnessed at the
Liacouras Center. Other four that leap to mind are: December 1998 one-point,
last-second win over #5 Michigan State; December 2008, Dionte Christmas scored
35 points to lead the Owls to an 88‐72 win over #8 Tennessee; December 2009,
Juan Fernandez delivered a career‐high 33 points in a 75‐65 win over #3
Villanova; December 2010 Ramone Moore exploded for a career‐high 30 points in a
68‐65 win over #9 Georgetown.
3 comments:
Out of my seat more than any game this season - and glad to do so!
Did the second half peanuts again work the magic? Got to think so.
Thanks to all of my fellow drivers, riders and after game revelers for a most fun season and winter repast - onward to the Madness
You gotta love these Owls. You gotta love this Chronicowls, and its Cousounian maestro. You gotta love how Owls '12-'13 have rounded out their season and poised themselves for the conference tourney, on which their Big Dance prospects would seem to firmly roost. You gotta squirm at the inevitability of a second-ever VCU-Temple tilt in round 2 of said tourney. And then...you gotta believe Dunphy's Dynamos may just have that intangible je ne sais quoi to raise more than a little hell well beyond the Ides of March.
What a great ending to the regular season. 'Temple Rips VCU' is a head line on today's Inquirer frontpage. I still have goosebumps. Watching Joe Stulz almost pass out was entertaining as well.
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