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Temple Outlasts X in Philly
By
Jay Skeldon,
1/20/2010
It was a heavy weight battle for first place on Wednesday night in Philly as the top two teams in the Atlantic 10 faced off. In the end, the No. 16 Temple Owls emerged as the victor, outlasting Xavier, 77-72, in a game that wasn't decided until the final minute. Jordan Crawford led the Musketeers with 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting including 3-of-7 from long range. XU drops to 12-6 on the season and into second place of the A-10 at 4-1. Temple, meanwhile, improves to 16-3 (4-0 A-10) on the year.
After trailing by five points at half time, Xavier mounted a second half comeback. With the team trailing by six points with 15:54 left, the Muskies went on a 7-0 run that was capped by a Crawford triple to take the lead 48-47 with 14:54 to play.
On the next possession, Temple guard Juan Fernandez matched that with a 3-pointer of his own to return the lead to the Owls. That was parlayed into a 7-0 streak by TU to give the home team a six point lead.
Although the Muskies fought back within three points in the final minute thanks to a pair of Brad Redford 3-pointers, Temple finished business at the foul line as Ryan Brooks drained a perfect six free throws in the final 0:22.
The pace of the game favored the Musketeers as Xavier pushed the ball on the break. However, the Owls thrived in that faster pace, shooting 59.2 percent from the field while posting a season-high 77 points. That included 5-of-10 from 3-point range. The Muskies shot capably at 45.8 percent from the field, but did not quite have enough.
Philadelphia native senior Jason Love, who was playing in his final game of his collegiate career in his hometown, posted a 16 point and seven rebound effort in 30 minutes of action. Terrell Holloway added 13 points and four assists as well to round out the double-digit scorers for Xavier. Redford finished with nine points on 3-of-7 from 3-point range.
Temple was led by senior Ryan Brooks who magnificent, scoring 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. He added seven rebounds as well. Lavoy Allen contributed 16 points (7-of-10 FG) and seven boards, while Juan Fernandez and LaKeisha Eaddy added 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Next up for Xavier is Rhode Island (15-2, 3-1) on Saturday, January 23 at Cintas Center. Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Cintas Center. The game is set to be televised on FSN Ohio.
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