VILLANOVA— Temple continued its undefeated start to the 2012-13 season with a 76-61, win over the Villanova Wildcats (4-4) on Wednesday evening at The Pavilion. The Owls, who improved to 6-0 on the year, beat their Philadelphia Big 5 rival out on the Main Line for the first time since 1990. The win over Villanova on Wednesday night also marks the first time since 1987-88 that the Owls have won the annual contest in consecutive seasons.
Senior swingman Scootie Randall hauled down a team-high seven rebounds and shot 6-of-12 from the floor, including five three-pointers, for a game-high 21 points. Sophomore forward Anthony Lee matched his career high with 16 points.
Trailing 36-32 at the midway point, the Owls stormed back in unyielding fashion by going on a 18-3 run, while holding Villanova from making a field goal for the first 10:20 of the second half.
Senior guard Khalif Wyatt, who was limited to three points through the first 20 minutes, scored five points during Temple’s 7-0 stretch that opened the half, which put the Owls in front for good when they went up 39-36 on his trey at the 17:28 mark.
Wyatt finished with 13 points on the night to join Randall and Lee in double figures.
After going up double digits for the first time when senior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson knocked down a jumper to make it 49-38 with 13:52 to play, the Wildcats didn’t go away, as they clawed back to cut TU’s lead to seven with nearly eight minutes to play.
Hollis-Jefferson finished the night with a career-high seven assists along with eight points while playing a physical role on the defensive side as he came away with a pair of blocks.
Lee’s layup with over six minutes to go gave Temple a double-digit lead for the rest of the contest, as the Owls led 60-49. From there Temple would continue its consistent second half shooting and would go up by as many as 17 in the final seconds
Villanova shot over 50 percent in the opening half and led a strong attack, helping it to build six-point leads at two different times.
Opening the game 11-5, the Owls responded with a 9-0 run to go ahead, 14-11, forcing Villanova head coach Jay Wright to request a timeout, triggering his team to jump back on top, 15-14. From there, that set the two teams up for exchanging baskets until just over three minutes to go in the half, when Villanova regained its six-point cushion just before the teams broke for halftime.
Junior James Bell led all Villanova scorers with 15 points and three assists, while classmate Tony Chennault finished in double figures with 10 points of his own.
Sitting with a perfect 6-0 record and 1-0 in Philadelphia Big 5 play, Temple will now place its concentration on Saturday’s marquee 3:15 p.m. matchup with the #2/2 Duke Blue Devils at the Izod Center (ESPN/1210 WPHT AM).
12.5.12
Leave a Reply