Home of the A10 Bounce“Because there is always room for one more on the bench.”
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Temple topples Rhode Island, 73-56, to take sole possession atop the A10
KINGSTON, RI - Temple’s one-two punch of Ramone Moore and Khalif Wyatt lifted the Owls to their sixth-straight win and first place in the Atlantic 10 standings with a 73-56 victory at Rhode Island Saturday afternoon in a nationally-televised (ESPN2) game. The Owls, now 17-5, are 6-2 in the A10 and with La Salle’s loss to Saint Joseph’s is the lone conference team with two losses. Rhode Island falls to 5-19, 2-7 in league play.
Moore and Wyatt entered the game as the top two scorers in the A10, and they kept up their scoring proficiency. Moore scored 14 of his game-high 22 points in the opening half, and had five in the Owls’ 8-0 run to start the game. Wyatt (16 pts), who had just three first half points, buried two “threes” to start the second half to push Temple’s eight point halftime lead (41-33) to double figures (47-36) early in the period. It would be a margin the Cherry and White would maintain for all but 35 seconds the remainder of the contest.
The Owls shot 51.8 percent (29-56) from the field, marking the fifth time Temple has connected on 50 percent of better from the field during its current six-game win streak.
Besides the team’s dynamic duo, sophomore guard Aaron Brown scored 16 points, making six-of-seven shots (3-4 from long range).
Not to be lost was the return of graduate center Micheal Eric to the starting lineup. The Owls’ big man made both of his shots while tying Wyatt and Moore for team-high rebound honors with five. He played 17 minutes with redshirt freshman Anthony Lee, who unselfishly approached head coach Fran Dunphy earlier in the week about letting Eric start in his place, had four points and three rebounds in 13 minutes.
Temple, which led for most of the first half by double figures, had a tough time stopping freshman forward Jonathan Holton over the first 20 minutes. Holton, who had a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with his team-high 13 points, scored all of his points in the first half, hittng three-of-three from beyond the arc.
The Owls completely shut him down over the final 20 minutes, thanks in large part to junior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson. The Chester product scored just three points, but his defense, which included a career-high four steals, and unselfish play (4 assists) helped TU breeze to the win.
As a whole, Temple held URI to 18-of-50 (36%) shooting (5-14, 35.7% from three). The Owls committed just eight turnovers in a near flawless effort.
Temple returns to the Liacouras Center Wednesday to host George Washington. The game will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. and can be seen on The Comcast Network (1210 AM WPHT).
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