HILADELPHIA -- Here in Philadelphia, hard by the Liberty Bell, the University of Massachusetts Minutemen decided to let threedom ring on Saturday afternoon.

With a startling display of 3-point shooting, they put a crack in one of the city's most enduring fixtures -- Temple's matchup zone -- and rolled to a 78-66 victory over the Owls at McGonigle Hall.

UMass hit a school-record 15 3-pointers, and needed only 25 attempts to do it, an uncanny 60 percent accuracy. The barrage from the perimeter lifted the surging Minutemen to their fourth straight win, and gave them their first winning record (10-9) since the season was one game old. What had been disastrous two weeks ago has suddenly become dazzling.

"There's a new identity for UMass," said senior Tyrone Weeks.

Certainly Saturday's effort was a major departure from early-season struggles when the team was trying to find itself amid lots of new players, a new coach and some key injuries. The team has gelled in impressive fashion since coach Bruiser Flint instituted a three-guard offense four games ago. Against Temple, the trio was startlingly good. They dissected the Temple zone like so much laboratory frog.

Carmelo Travieso ate up the defense with a game-high 28 points, hitting 10-17 shots, including 6-13 from behind the arc. Edgar Padilla scored 20 on 6-11 (6-9) shooting. He kept UMass in the game during the early stages when Temple threatened to overpower the Minutemen -- scoring his team's first 12 points on four 3-pointers in a span of just 2:44. And Charlton Clarke was merely marvelous with 17 points, hitting every shot he attempted: four foul shots, three 3-pointers, and two standard 2-pointers. Clarke also had a career-high 12 assists against just one turnover.

"When their guards are playing like that, every team in the country will have a problem against (UMass)," said Temple coach John Chaney.

Chaney's own backcourt was vastly outplayed. Top scorer Rasheed Brokenborough was held to 14 points -- all of them late -- on 4-14 shooting. Point guard Pepe Sanchez shot just 4-17 for 10 points. At one point in the game, the UMass guards had outscored Temple's backcourt, 47-0.

Ironically, UMass' game plan did not call for so much 3-point shooting. Coach Bruiser Flint, having watched Temple from up close and far away (having even gone to Chaney's basketball camp as a young boy growing up in Philadelphia) knew too well the strategy of the matchup zone: "They want you to shoot jump shots."

UMass obliged, but got consistently good looks at the basket thanks to great dribble penetration and floor spacing. Then when Temple began to pressure the perimeter, the Minutemen recognized the situation like veterans and redirected quick passes into the post for several easy hoops.

The Minutemen's total game involved much more than just shooting. They held their own rebounding the ball against a physical Temple team, thanks almost entirely to Weeks, who snatched a career-high 16 boards.

And the defense was impressive, particularly the efforts on Marc Jackson in the post and Brokenborough on the perimeter. Jackson was a force in the early going, scoring seven of the Owls' first nine points as Temple built a 9-3 lead. After that, though, he was flustered by battalions of UMass defenders. Inus Norville was particularly impressive off the bench, fronting Jackson, then backing him, preventing him from getting good looks. Jackson shot just 5-15 and finished with 13 points.

And Travieso shut down Brokenborough, holding him scoreless through the game's first 29 minutes.

"If we rebound and play defense, we have a chance of beating everybody," said Flint.

UMass led by as many as 16 in the first half before going to the locker room ahead, 41-30. In the second half the Minutemen built the lead back to as many as 17, before having to weather their only dangerous run since the game's opening moments.

Padilla fouled out with 3:31 left and UMass showed brief signs of panic. Twice the lead was cut to eight points, the last time with 1:36 remaining on a 3-point launch from way beyond the arc by Sanchez. Facing a critical possession, the Minutemen found Travieso open at the top of the key and he coolly delivered the 3-point dagger to ice the contest.

"As long as you have heart on the court, you can overcome everything," said Clarke.

The Minutemen have certainly shown plenty of ticker in resurrecting a season that looked almost unsalvagable just two weeks ago. They continue their stretch of tough games at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, playing at George Washington.

MASSACHUSETTS (78)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Clarke          40   5-5   4-4   0-0 12  2   17
Weeks           38  3-10   0-0  3-16  0  3    6
Ketner          15   0-1   3-4   0-1  1  3    3
Padilla         36  6-11   2-2   0-3  3  5   20
Travieso        40 10-17   2-4   1-3  3  0   28
Norville        23   0-1   0-0   1-5  0  3    0
Basit            4   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    2
Smith            4   0-0   2-2   0-1  0  0    2
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TOTALS         200 25-46 13-16  5-29 19 17   78
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Percentages: FG-.543, FT-.813. 3-Point Goals:
15-25, .600 (Clarke 3-3, Padilla 6-9, Travieso
6-13). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 3 (Weeks,
Ketner, Norville). Turnovers: 10 (Padilla 3,
Weeks 3, Clarke, Norville, Smith). Steals: 4
(Padilla, Smith, Travieso, Weeks).


TEMPLE (66)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Barnes          34   5-7   0-4   5-8  0  2   10
Stewart         30   4-7   2-3   0-6  2  3   10
Jackson         40  5-15   2-3   6-8  0  3   13
Sanchez         36  4-17   0-0   1-4  5  4   10
Brokenborough   33  4-14   4-6   0-4  3  1   14
Futch           11   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Dunkley         16   3-6   0-0   0-0  0  1    9
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 25-67  8-16 12-30 10 15   66
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.373, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:
8-23, .348 (Jackson 1-1, Sanchez 2-7,
Brokenborough 2-10, Dunkley 3-5). Team rebounds:
6. Blocked shots: 2 (Barnes, Dunkley). Turnovers:
6 (Jackson 3, Stewart 2). Steals: 3 (Barnes,
Jackson, Sanchez).

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Massachusetts      41   37  -   78
Temple             30   36  -   66
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Technical fouls: None.  A: 3,913. Officials:
Michael Sanzere, Art Mcdonald, John Moreau.