Chronicowls '12 Temple-Xavier

The Cherry Crusade were in full throat and in white last night, for ESPN's national telecast of the Temple-Xavier Atlantic 10 showdown. As you might surmise, a "whiteout" was called for the game, and 8000 white shirts with the motto "I Believe" were placed on the seats before last night's game.

And here they are, on their feet, at the end of an outstanding Temple hoops performance, celebrating, before a national viewing audience, by chanting the now-familiar refrain of  I Believe That We Have Won.

For a recap of the game, I'll let Chronicowls commenter Scott Matlack describe what unfolded:

"Temple got off to a hot start and never looked back.  They were up 17 - 5 early and by 20 points for most of the game.  Temple shot 7 -11 from three-point land in the first half to dust Xavier.  Ramone Moore had 30 points and could have had 40 if they weren't trying to burn the clock in the second half."
--------------
Disappointing that the game was not a sellout. Let's blame it on the weather. And the fact that there were four other Division 1 college basketball games in Philly yesterday, attended by nearly than 25,000 fans, including the Temple crowd. Nonetheless, the atmosphere was electric inside the Liacouras Center.
-------------
Michael Eric had a big game, registering a double-double that included 16 rebounds. Temple used a 7-minute Xavier scoring drought in the first half to go on a 16-0 run. And T.J. DiLeo played a solid game off the bench.
-------------
Last night's game was the start of a challenging stretch of games to finish the regular season, as each of Temple's next five opponents has a winning record. Next home game is Saturday, against Duquesne, tipping off at 2pm.