March 2, 2008

PHILADELPHIA- The Temple Owls used a 17-4 run to steal a win against Saint Joseph's Sunday night at The Palestra. A Mark Tyndale lay-up with twenty-one seconds remaining gave the Owls their first lead of the game and ultimately the win, 57-56. Pat Calathes and Tasheed Carr had shots to win it in the waning seconds but both clanged off the rim in front of the sold out crowd.

The exciting ending matched the same scenario that occurred on January 26^th at the Liacouras Center when SJU won, 68-67. Except this time it was a Tyndale lay-up that saw his team, which had been trailing the whole game, take the lead in the final seconds and get a victory instead of a Pat Calathes' 3-pointer and a Hawk win. The Owl senior continued his success against the Hawks by scoring 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 8 crucial points in the last six minutes when his team needed it most. He also led the team in rebounds with eight.

Junior Dionte Christmas had all 10 of his points come in the first half as St. Joe's held him to his lowest scoring output of the season. Classmate Semaj Inge added a much needed 10 points off of the bench for Temple.

The Hawks struggled on the offensive end, especially in the second half. Senior Pat Calathes led the team in scoring with 14 points but struggled mightily to find a consistent shooting groove as he made just 3-of-14. As a team, the Hawks were held to 38.5% from the field and made only one field goal in the last ten minutes of regulation.

The win improves the Owls' record to 16-12 on the season and 2-1 in the Big 5 standings. It also snaps their five-game losing streak to the Hawks. Saint Joseph's drops to 17-10, and finishes their Big 5 slate at 2-2.