March 8, 2008
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, PA- Playing for a share of the Philadelphia Big Five title and a first-round bye in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, the La Salle University Explorers (14-16, 8-8 A-10) dropped their third straight 85-66 to the Temple University Owls (18-12, 11-5 A-10) Saturday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena. Senior Darnell Harris (Baltimore, MD/ St. Frances Academy) had a game-high 26 points, including 4-11 shooting from three-point range.
After breaking a 10-10 stalemate, the Owls went on an 18-6 run to surge ahead in the first half. The Explorers shot just 34.4 % from the field in the first half, compared to Temple's 58 %.
Sophomore Rodney Green (Philadelphia, PA/ Prep Charter) slammed home an alley-oop to get the Explorers on the board first as La Salle dashed out to a 5-2 lead.
At 18:45 Harris broke the A-10 three-point record with 332 all-time treys.
Temple's Dionte Christmas (Philadelphia, PA/ Philadelphia Lutheran) tied it at 7-7 at the 16:42 mark, and the Owls took their first lead of the game 12-10 just minutes later.
The Owls went on an 8-2 run to stay on top 20-12.
Freshman Jerrell Williams (Paterson, NJ/ Northfield Mount Hermon) had a three of his own to cut the lead to five at 10:00 (20-15). He finished with nine points, 10 rebounds.
Harris made another three at 5:35 to make it 33-20, his third trey of the game. Junior Paul Johnson (Washington, DC/ Gonzaga) followed up with a slam to cut the Temple lead to 11.
Temple's Chris Clark (Narberth, PA/ St. Joseph's Prep) was perfect from beyond the arc in the first half (3-3), as he sunk a three. Clark finished 6-8 from three-point land and led Temple with 22 points. The Owls led at halftime 44-22.
La Salle opened up the second half with a 13-0 run as sophomore Yves Mekongo Mbala (Elizabeth, NJ/ St. Patrick's) sparked the run with a quick bucket and Harris drained his third three of the afternoon to trail 50-35. Mekongo Mbala finished with 14 points.
Temple's Clark drained three-trey's to score the Owls' only points of the second stanza 12 minutes in as the Explorers trailed 61-44.
Mekongo Mbala nailed a three to put the Explorers within 13 (66-53) at 8:12, and two minutes later sank two free-throws to make it 68-56. Three-point shooting continued to plague the Explorers as Temple's Tyndale and Christmas each made another to keep La Salle at a safe distance.
Harris sank his final three-pointer at Tom Gola Arena as the Owls flew away with an 85-66 win, clinching a share of Big Five title along with Villanova.
The Explorers will head to Atlantic City for the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Wednesday, March 12th-15th and will await word on their seeding. For A-10 Tournament ticket information visit www.atlantic10.org.
