Moore leads Temple past Bona, 76-70

By Paul Casey Gotham

St. BONAVENTURE, NY — First place came riding into town and returned to North Broad Street.

Ramone Moore led four in double figures and keyed a decisive 10-0 run late in the second half as the Atlantic 10 leading Temple Owls defeated the St. Bonaventure Bonnies 76-70 Wednesday night on Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center.

Moore scored five of his 19 second-half points and added an assist in as the Owls surged to a 14-point lead and hung on for the victory.

“Nothing would surprise me with what Ramone Moore would do,” said Temple coach Fran Dunphy. “He just has a great feel for the game.”

After Khalif Wyatt used a ball screen to knock down a three, Moore contributed to the next seven. The senior guard drove across the lane using his left for a lay up. On the next possession, Juan Fernandez skipped a pass across the lane to an open Moore for a catch-and-shoot trifecta. Moore then found T.J. DiLeo on a back door cut for the basket and TU led 55-43.

The margin swelled to 14 when Fernandez connected three times from the free throw line.

But Bona did not go away.

Andrew Nicholson and Eric Mosley combined as Bona whittled the lead to three.

Nicholson grabbed an offensive rebound and nailed a jump hook in the lane.

Mosley took an inside-out pass from Da’Quan Cook and hit his fourth trey of the night.

Nicholson used a drop step in the lane for a basket. After the ensuing free throw, SBU trailed 64-58.

The teams traded free throws before Nicholson nailed a three to close the gap to five at 68-63 with little more than a minute remaining.

Demitrius Conger finished a rebound and putback and the Brown and White were within striking distance at 72-69 with twenty ticks remaining on the clock.

Moore sealed the victory connecting on four-of-four free throws.

“I knew he would get into a rhythm, and he certainly did,” Dunphy commented of Moore. “Ramone is a great player.”

“Give those guys credit,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt said. “Moore played really well in the second half. We had a hard time guarding him especially off the bounce.”

Bona hit five-of-nine from behind the arc to grab a one-point lead at the half.

After a pair of DiLeo free throws made it 16-11, Mosley took over from there.  The junior connected on back-to-back threes. When Fernandez left him to double in the post, Mosley relocated and Nicholson obliged with an assist. He followed with a trey in transition when Conger found him open on the wing and the Bonnies held a 17-16 edge.

“Eric was really terrific coming off the bench for us,” Schmidt.

“We didn’t do good job of guarding him,” Dunphy noted.

Temple responded. Fernandez hit a pair of pull up jumpers. The first with Conger’s hand in his face. He followed going three dribbles to his left before pulling up just inside the arc. Two Fernandez free throws later and Temple led 22-19.

The Bonnies used a 7-1 rebounding advantage over the next four minutes to outscore the Owls 10-5.

Chris Johnson got Wyatt in the air with an upfake, used a dribble and pulled up for the basket. Charlon Kloof grabbed a long defensive rebound and raced end-to-end for the lay up. Mosley tied the game at 27 with another catch-and-shoot three from Conger.

Bona reclaimed the lead  at 29-27 when Johnson drew contact going to the basket and hit both from the charity stripe.

Nicholson used a spin move in the post for a 31-27 lead.

Hollis-Jefferson and Wyatt hit three of four free throws to close the half.

“That’s a heckuva team we lost to,” Schmidt noted. “They’re going to have a lot more victories beside the one tonight.”

The game pitted the reigning conference co-players-of-the-week in Moore and Nicholson. Despite playing just a combined 22 minutes in the first half, the pair finished with a game-high 19 points. Moore went 6-11 from the field and 6-6 from the line. Nicholson went 8-15 from the floor and hit 2-2 behind the arc.

Wyatt scored nine of his 17 from the charity stripe. Fernandez added 16 and a game-high four assists. Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson chipped in 11. Michael Eric grabbed a game-high 11 boards.

Mosley added 18 for Bona.

The Bonnies won the war on the boards, 34-33.

Temple improves to 9-2 in the A-1o and 20-5 overall. The Owls travel to Pittsburgh for a date with Duquesne this Saturday.

Bona falls to 6-5 and 13-10. SBU hosts Rhode Island on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4pm.

Representatives from the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Charlotte Bobcats and Memphis Grizzlies attended the game.