FINAL: Temple 85, La Salle 66
The Owls controlled all day today against the Explorers. La Salle played a good second half to make it relatively close, but never got to within single-digits, as they’ll have to win four-straight games to win the A-10 title.
Chris Clark was unconscious from three today, hitting 6-for-7 for the Owls for 22 points, while Tyndale and Christmas added 14 and 19, respectively. Darnell Harris scored 26 points on 11-for-21 shooting, but the majority of those came in the second half when it was too late.
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Temple fans show a “Big 5 Champs” rollout, as they and Villanova share this year’s title.
Temple now has in a player - Orlando Miller, number 43 - who has no name on the back of his jersey.
1:46 2nd Half: Temple 83, La Salle 63
Wow, the Temple student section, as high up and small as possible, sings the “Hey Song” for about 30 seconds, yelling “you suck” at the La Salle bench.
Christmas hits a long jumper with a few seconds remaining in the shot clock, and then nails a dagger from three. He’s got 10 straight points for Temple now. The Owls are shooting over 50 percent from the floor, and are now up by 20.
3:30 2nd Half: Temple 76, La Salle 60
Christmas is left wide open and makes La Salle pay with a three. Harris is trying to take over, hitting turnarounds on consecutive possessions. Olmos gets the ball inside, but once again is blocked on the way up.
5:45 2nd Half: Temple 71, La Salle 56
The game has gotten slightly less-physical, but the refs are still calling a lot. Clark is called for a push, and La Salle capitalizes with one from the line.
Mekongo Mbala gets a bail out call on Allen, his fourth for Temple. He hits a big two from the line, and it’s back to 10.
Tyndale hits a big three with a man in his face, and Mekongo Mbala misses a three on the other end.
7:54 2nd Half: Temple 66, La Salle 53
Jerrell Williams scores to cut the lead to 13, but Olmos gets them right back with an and-1. Olmos then connects on a pretty hook, and Williams scores again on the other end.
Mekongo Mbala is left open at the top of the key, and nails a three. Clark misses his first shot of the game, and is now a mere 8-for-9, 22 points.
The Explorers are slowly coming back. Their defense has improved (though Temple is still getting good looks) and the offense has been lighting it up this half - they’ve doubled their first-half total in only 12 minutes.
11:21 2nd Half: Temple 61, La Salle 46
Harris yells “give it to me” to Diaz, and draws a foul. La Salle is already in the 1-and-1, but Harris misses the front end. He backs Clark down and hits a nasty turn-around jumper, though.
15:06 2nd Half: Temple 61, La Salle 44
Johnson draws his fourth charge of the game, and his second on Christmas. Honestly, I thought it should have gone un-called. Mekongo Mbala connects on a spin move for an and-1, and La Salle is back within 16.
Harris hits, and the crowd is beginning to wake up. The small Cherry and White contingency was by far louder before.
Wow, Clark hits again, and he’s 8-for-8 from the field now, 6-of-6 from three.
15:41 2nd Half: Temple 56, La Salle 35
Christmas hits Clark for a big three, and now the point guard is 6-for-6. Then the next possession, Clark nails his seventh-straight shot and his fifth three.
The La Salle fans roll out the first sign of the game: “It’s ok, we like Dr. G better,” I guess referring to the fact that they couldn’t get Fran Dunphy as their coach, but Dr. John Giannini is better.
17:29 2nd Half: Temple 50, La Salle 35
Mekongo Mbala and Harris both get inside for layups, and Green hits a 10-foot jumper to cut the lead to 18. Temple is missing threes, allowing the Explorers to make a small run. Meanwhile, Harris drains a three to open up the 9-0 run, as Dunphy calls timeout. The Explorers are a volatile team - they can heat up in a second.
Halftime: La Salle 26, Temple 50
Harris is really struggling from the floor, he’s 3-for-9 for eight points. On the other end, Chris Clark is lights out - he’s hit 5-for-5 from the field and has 13 points.
Christmas takes a beautiful give-and-go for a two, and Brooks’ drive makes it 50 for Temple to close out the half
2:45 1st Half: La Salle 24, Temple 44
Clark hits a wide-open three and Temple is running away with it now.
Before that last hoop by the Explorers, Temple was on a 25-7 run.
Paul Johnson has had a great defensive first half. The forward who nearly went to Penn takes his third charge of the first half. He then takes a backdoor cut for a thunderous jam. He’s got his hands full with Tyndale though, he’s playing well, but not sure he’s really getting the best of this matchup.
Clark nails a three with Green in his grill, and then does it again right over Harris the next possession.
Tyndale hits a three, and La Salle is getting doubled-up. Tyndale is taking out anyone in his sight, he’s so strong on the drive that defenders often just fall out of the way.
7:48 1st Half: La Salle 16, Temple 28
Barrett gets rejected twice by Allen, and then Brooks hits a three for Temple. Willliams hits one to bring the lead to five.
Once again, Brooks hits Olmos for the lob inside for an easy two.
La Salle grad and ESPN analyst Tim Legler is in the house, as is Philly basketball legend Sonny Hill. An interesting tidbit about Legler - his girlfriend is an Eagles cheerleader, and is also here tonight.
10:25 1st Half: La Salle 12, Temple 20
Olmos takes a lob for an easy two. Temple’s looking at this all day.
This is an amazingly physical game so far, as Christmas and Mbala go hurling toward the floor. It’s the last regular season game for both schools, and they’re going all out.
Jerrell Williams misses from point-blank range after an offensive rebound as Temple leads by five. He makes a nasty spin move on Olmos, though, to take it for a reverse layup.
Johnson takes yet another charge
15:29 1st Half: La Salle 10, Temple 10
On the game’s first play, Christmas drives hard to the basket, bu Johnson draws a charge. And just like that, La Salle goes up 2-0 on a beautiful alley-oop from Diaz to Rodney Green.
Christmas scores, but a Harris three puts La Salle back on top.
Christmas is playing well on both ends so far, forcing an airballed three, but just as I say this Harris nails one the next possession.
I didn’t know anyone could be worse at throwing out T-shirts than the Penn cheerleaders, but I almost caught one from the La Salle cheerleaders, and I’m courtside.
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Welcome to Tom Gola Arena, I bet none of you expected the Big 5 title to be decided by this game between the two North Philly foes.
Villanova (3-1) has secured a share of the Big 5 title, the other half to be determined tonight as La Salle (2-1) faces off against Temple (2-1). Both teams have beaten Penn and St. Joe’s (surprisingly) and lost to the Wildcats.
These two teams, along with St. Joe’s, have produced three of the best Big 5 games in years this season, and this hopes to be another classic. La Salle shoots lights out from deep, but doesn’t play too much defense. For Temple, the dynamic duo of Mark Tyndale and Dionte Christmas are always a thrill to watch. If I had to guess, this game will be played in the 80s or 90s.
This is an especially big game for both squads because it’s the final game of the regular season before both teams head to Atlantic City for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Temple (10-5) has clinched one of the four byes in the first round, while La Salle (8-7) would get one with a win and a little help.
Sherman Diaz starts for La Salle on Senior Day, and in honor of him they played the national anthem of Trinidad and Tobago
Starters:
Temple:
G Luiz Guzman
G Dionte Christmas
G Mark Tyndale
F Lavoy Allen
C Sergio Olmos
La Salle:
G Darnell Harris
G Rodney Green
F Sherman Diaz
F Paul Johnson
F Yves Mekongo Mbala
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