HILADELPHIA - Temple's matchup zone was hardly a problem. Few
teams walk away from a game against the Owls saying that, but the
University of Massachusetts could yesterday. And that is what bothered
Minuteman coach Bruiser Flint most about his team's 65-57 Atlantic 10 defeat
to its heated rival.
With 3:27 left, the Minutemen trailed, 54-50, having weathered a raucous Apollo crowd of 9,246 and just about everything the Owls threw at them. At some moments it even frustrated a Temple offense that played without starting point guard Pepe Sanchez (knee injury). His absence was evident with 2:57 left, when a stiff UMass defensive stand forced Temple to call time out with five seconds on the shot clock.
At that moment, UMass, which rallied from a 7-point deficit to lead by as many as 5 in the first half, appeared poised to make another dramatic run. Then came the unforced errors.
When play resumed, Temple guard Rasheed Brokenborough split the defense to haul in an inbounds pass and scored as the shot clock expired. On UMass's ensuing possession, forward Chris Kirkland threw a low-post pass to center Kitwana Rhymer, who had his back turned when the ball sailed past him and out of bounds.
A free throw by center Kevin Lyde gave the Owls a 57-50 lead, and a mixup in the backcourt on UMass's next possession led to Temple guard Quincy Wadley stepping in front of a Kirkland-to-Rafael Cruz pass and scoring on a breakaway layup, giving Temple a 9-point lead with 2:07 left.
Checkmate. Even with two minutes left, it was evident the Minutemen would not recover. Coupled with 3-of-6 shooting from the foul line over the last 9:34, the Minutemen blew one of their best opportunities to capture an impressive road victory.
''Without question,'' said Flint, whose Minutemen (8-9, 4-2) have reduced their already low margin of error even further. Having dropped below .500 again, the Minutemen can ill afford to lose many of their remaining 11 games. That's what made yesterday so crushing.
 Mike Babul tries to muscle his way to the hoop. |
''Even in the first half, when we got turnovers, we got them because they were knocking the ball out of our hands, not because the zone was gobbling us up.''
In fact, UMass had more problems with Temple freshman forward Mark Karcher's offense (21 points) than the Owls defense. His output included 11 points during a 5:24 stretch that gave Temple a 53-46 lead with 5:25 to go. Lamont Barnes and Wadley added 15 points each for the Owls (13-6, 7-0), who won despite being outrebounded, 43-32. Temple coach John Chaney said although it was difficult without Sanchez, his team finished with just five turnovers, including one in the second half, and none from his guards.
''Without Pepe, it could have been disaster,'' said Chaney, who beat UMass in Amherst without Sanchez last season. ''It should have been. We shouldn't have won this game. No way.''
UMass guard Monty Mack finished with one of his best outputs of the season, posting team highs in points (27) and rebounds (nine). Yet after draining a trey with 10:04 left to cut Temple's lead to 43-41, Mack didn't score again until 5:08 mark, when he hit two free throws.
The only other Minuteman to score in double figures was Kirkland, who finished with 10 points and played 35 minutes despite cutting the palm of his right hand with about 4 minutes left. He required six stitches. With no other go-to guy and poor foul shooting, UMass was hurting.
''We've been playing together well. We just can't play any lower than this, and we can't let our confidence get any lower,'' said Mack.
''We just have to go out there and play our game.''
HILADELPHIA - John Chaney's sense of relief
was not necessarily what Bruiser Flint wanted to
hear about yesterday.
UMass' 65-57 loss to Temple was bad enough, without the winning coach's assessment. ``We should not have won this ball game,'' said Temple's Chaney.
The Minutemen trailed the Atlantic 10's best team by four points with three minutes left. Two key turnovers and three hurried misses later, they were down by 12.
 Mike Babul about to meet the floor. |
UMass attacked Temple's matchup zone as if the Minutemen actually knew what they were doing against one of the most numbing coverages in college basketball.
It worked until a familiar demon paid a call. Turnovers, the root of UMass' loss to St. Bonaventure on Jan. 9, played a decisive hand in yesterday's loss as well.
Temple (13-6) has yet to lose a conference game. The 8-9 Minutemen, now 4-2 in the A-10, watched their postseason hopes grow just a tad weaker as a result.
``This was definitely our game until the last three minutes,'' said guard Charlton Clarke. ``There's not enough you can do to work against turnovers, and especially Temple's pressure. Nobody can prepare for it. It's not as if we can play Temple's style in practice.''
But for all of Temple's schemes - a swarming approach that shut down Lari Ketner, limiting the UMass center to eight points - the Minutemen created opportunities.
``Without question we could have had this game,'' said Flint. ``This is the best we've ever played against that zone. We got the ball inside, and we got open looks for 3s. We got anything we wanted to get out of it.''
They also had plenty of time to fall apart. The Minutemen cut the Temple lead to 54-50 with 3:27 left on a Kitwana Rhymer free throw, which was preceded by an acrobatic Chris Kirkland drive goaltended by Temple forward Keaton Sanders.
Rashid Brokenborough answered with a drive with 2:52 left, and UMass' sense of calm disappeared quickly.
Kirkland attempted to feed Rhymer in the post, only to bounce the ball off Rhymer's back when the forward turned to set a pick. The result was a Kevin Lyde free throw down the other end.
Kirkland would end up with the ball again, this time near midcourt in the midst of a Temple double team. UMass guard Rafael Cruz called for the ball, cut behind Kirkland to take the pass, and brought along defender Quincy Wadley.
Wadley easily stepped between Kirkland and Cruz, poked the ball away, and drove in for a fast break hoop and a 59-50 Temple lead with 2:03 left.
The Owls would finish up at the line, where they shot 6-of-10 over the last 1:31.
heir point guard, who had been playing spectacularly lately, was on the bench with a sore knee. His injured backup hasn't played in almost two months. But the Temple Owls can be toughest to play when they're wounded. Yesterday, they played stripped-down, no-nonsense basketball, then turned ravenous at the very end.
 Kit Rhymer blocks Temple's Marc Karcher. |
"We missed some foul shots. We threw the ball away twice. That was it in a nutshell. That was the game in a nutshell," said UMass coach Bruiser Flint, whose team fell to 8-9 overall and 4-2 in the A-10.
Flint had no doubts about what he was going to see from Temple, Pepe Sanchez or no Pepe Sanchez. Temple had taken UMass out last season in Amherst without its starting point guard.
"We could be 0-20," said Flint, whose team needs a big run of wins to merit NCAA tournament consideration. "They're still going to come out here like, 'Let's kill these guys.' "
Everybody contributed for Temple. Mark Karcher led the Owls with 21 points. Lamont Barnes had 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Keaton Sanders had six rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.
With 3 minutes left, Temple's lead was 54-50 when Rasheed Brokenborough hit a running one-handed 12-footer from the left side of the lane. Right after that, UMass players Chris Kirkland and Kitwana Rhymer miscommunicated on an entry pass, and Barnes stepped in and caught the ball.
At the other end, Brokenborough missed a shot, but it was Temple big men Barnes and Kevin Lyde who were fighting each other for the rebound. Lyde ended up with it and hit a free throw after he was fouled.
Then Kirkland and UMass teammate Rafael Cruz had another breakdown outside, so Quincy Wadley stepped in and took the ball, went downcourt and scored. That little stretch, barely over a minute long, determined the game.
Wadley started at the point, but Chaney thought he was looking for his shot too much instead of looking to pass. So the Temple coach was more satisfied when Brokenborough ran the point (five assists, zero turnovers), and Wadley played on the wing, scoring 10 of his 15 points in the second half.
"Everybody was out of order. It looked like your grandmother's blanket," Chaney, who celebrated his 67th birthday Thursday, said of missing Sanchez.
Without him, the Owls still only had one turnover in the second half and five for the game. "She made good blankets out of order," Chaney added.
UMass guard Monty Mack had a superb game, hitting 6 of 9 three-pointers and finishing with 27 points, along with a game-high nine rebounds. But Temple actually had him covered for most of the second half, when Mack hit two three-pointers, including one with 21 seconds left in the game and UMass down by 13 points.
"Coming down the stretch, they really didn't have too many shooters on the floor," Wadley said. "What we tried to do was double on [Mack] in the corner, to get him to get rid of the basketball."
Mack hit three of his four first-half three-pointers from the corners. In that half, the Minutemen made 6 of 11 threes but had just the two from Mack after halftime.
Inside, UMass center Lari Ketner, after a scoreless, one-rebound first half, finished with eight points and five rebounds. The Minutemen came out hot, making 7 of their first 10 shots. But they also had five straight turnovers in the middle of that stretch, allowing Temple an early 11-4 lead.
However, that lead was gone in less than two minutes, as Charlton Clarke and Mack hit quick threes, and Mack got another hoop on the fastbreak. The Minutemen went up by 20-15. The biggest lead of the game for UMass was 26-21 before Temple scored the last five points of the first half.
The lead went back and forth after halftime until Wadley hit a three for a 37-36 lead with 13 minutes left. The game remained close after that, but Temple never relinquished the lead.
Of longer-term concern to Temple is the status of Sanchez, who bruised his right knee against St. Joseph's, continued to play with it against Rhode Island and inflamed it further Tuesday night at Duquesne. With Lynn Greer out for the year, Temple had no guards off the bench yesterday. Brokenborough and Wadley both played 40 minutes (as did their UMass counterparts, Clarke and Mack).
"It's a bone bruise that continues to inflame from use," Chaney said of Sanchez's injury, adding that this was a good game to hold Sanchez out because Temple doesn't play again until Saturday at St. Bonaventure. "Our whole season is at stake. If I'm going to gamble [on a game], I need to gamble now."
"It's very inflamed," Sanchez said of his knee. He hoped he would be ready for St. Bonaventure. "Just time and ice will help it. It's no bone, just the side of the knee."
ixty-six seconds into the game, James Flint, a.k.a. Bruiser, abandons his
seat. For the next two hours, he resembles a laboratory frog hooked up to
electrodes. He twitches and jumps, spasms and jerks. If his team had played with half as much
energy, it might have won.
Down at the other end of the court, Flint's coaching opponent, John Chaney, the wise old Owl, does his agonizing from the sitting position. He won't arise and begin to limp and grump about until the game is inside the last 10 minutes.
Flint is 32 and a man on fire. He still tries to rebound every miss, contest every shot.
Chaney is 67 and has bad knees. He has learned to husband his energy, save his shouts.
When you're young, you try to run across the swamp. When you're old, you're supposed to have learned where all the stumps are.
Yesterday, Temple played without its best player, Pepe Sanchez, and won anyway, 65-57 over UMass. The victory was sweet, because it was unexpected and it pushed Chaney to within half a dozen of 600 for his career. The loss hurt more than most and dropped Flint to 8-9 for the season. And it prevented him from achieving the coveted Philly Sweep. Two nights previously, UMass had beaten St. Joseph's, which is Flint's alma mater.
Flint is Philadelphia through and through. He was born here, and on the very day that he arrived, his grandfather proclaimed that he would grow up to be a bruiser. The name stuck. The prediction didn't.
Flint was a point guard who excelled at making other players better, which is usually how coaches get started. He attended John Chaney basketball camps, and he played at Episcopal Academy, then for the Hawks, and he still is sixth all-time on Hawk Hill in assists. He played in the Sonny Hill League, and it was there that he contracted the fatal coaching virus.
Before Flint was 30, he had been selected to replace John Calipari at UMass. Rather than fighting any prelims, he was thrown right into the main event. Calipari, a Rick Pitino wannabe, built himself quite a little fiefdom and then allowed himself to be bought by the New Jersey Nets. For a bundle.
Flint is in the uncomfortable and unenviable position occupied by those who have to follow in the footsteps of those around whose footsteps the cement is still drying. He won 19 games in his first season, 21 last season.
This season, his team has been booed at home. There is nastiness on the Internet. There are poison webs on some Web sites. The Nasties are spoiled. They have not had to experience the inevitable cycle.
So probably the best and most just thing that happened is that Flint has gotten a two-year contract extension. Presumably, the school, at least, realizes what the Nasties do not: A coach is infinitely smarter when he has Marcus Camby and Lou Roe playing for him, as Calipari did.
Chaney, of course, is free to coach at Temple until he is 137 years old. One of these years, the Hall of Fame will get around to correcting a shameful oversight and induct him. But, then, basketball is probably the least important thing he does. It is the salvaging of lives, the U-turns effected, that will be his lasting legacy. In Bruiser Flint, you see a John Chaney disciple.
"The kids -- that's the great part -- seeing them grow and mature as people," Flint said yesterday, sounding eerily like Chaney.
Flint smiled. He has a thousand-kilowatt smile.
"Guys come back now and they're not players any more," he said. "They've grown up and moved on, and they tell you how they're saying to their own children the same sort of things you used to say to them, and that's really, really great."
It was also pretty great that the grandfather who gave Bruiser Flint his nickname was able to sit at the Apollo and watch his grandson in action that was pretty much continuous and impassioned.
"I'm into the game," Flint confessed, smiling a sheepish smile. "But I'll bet John Chaney was like that when he was young, too."
Of course he was. He was a madman who needed to be restrained by several people at once. He still has his moments.
"I'm better with the referees than I used to be," Flint said. "I learned the way you learn most things -- the hard way."
Flint has a lot to offer those 19-year-olds, a lot that will stand them in good stead when there is still air in their bodies but not in basketballs. He calls them to the sideline and scolds them and corrects them, then sends them back out with smart cracks on their posteriors. Tough love.
That is Chaney's staple, of course -- the tough love. When the game gets near the end, he dispenses it in a loud voice. And what you couldn't help but notice yesterday was how uncannily Bruiser Flint's voice has come to resemble the hoarse croak of John Chaney's.
"Except John's is louder," Flint said.
True, but, then, he's had more experience using it.
"By the end of the season, his is gone, and it never really comes back," Flint said, smiling again. "But in the summer, I get mine back." That's one time when it helps to be young. Another time it helps is when you kneel. Chaney kneels a lot over the last 10 minutes of the game. It's not the getting down that's the hard part, it's the getting back up.
One of Chaney's players, Rasheed Brokenborough, has been struggling with his shot. So Chaney fusses at him.
"The way he's been shooting, he might as well be sitting next to me," Chaney said. "He's getting ice-cream-and-cake shots and not making them. That's why I wanted to choke him."
In fact, Chaney did pretend to do just that. But then he turned the choke into a hug.
Bruiser Flint watched that and smiled.
HILADELPHIA - Forget about the matchup zone. Yesterday's 65-57 Temple
University men's basketball victory over Massachusetts was about matchup
problems.
And UMass turnovers. And untimely missed free throws. And the fact that Temple was able to adjust to the absence of injured point guard Juan "Pepe" Sanchez to win its seventh straight game and take firm command of the Atlantic 10 Conference's East Division.
"I thought that was about the best we've played against their zone," UMass coach Bruiser Flint after the loss before 9,246 fans at the Apollo of Temple. "We got inside, we got open looks, we got penetration. When they doubled inside, we threw it out of the double-team."
But what UMass didn't do was protect the ball well enough. The Minutemen had 13 turnovers, not overwhelming in sheer numbers but enough to spoil a chance for an upset against a Temple team that makes every possession count.
UMass (8-9, 4-2 Atlantic 10), which returns home Tuesday against Fordham, saw a season-high three-game winning streak halted. Temple (13-6, 7-0) won its seventh straight even as Sanchez sat out with an injured right knee.
The most obvious matchup problem for UMass involved 6-foot-5, 220-pound Temple sophomore Mark Karcher, who scored 21 points with six rebounds and went 4 for 9 from 3-point range. The husky forward knocked down two straight 3-pointers from the corner within a 36-second span, expanding a 40-38 Owls' lead to 46-41.
"Karcher backed guys underneath, and he hit some from the outside, too," UMass guard Charlton Clarke said. "We hung on until the end, but they hit some big shots."
Karcher's mixture of mobility and bulk, which somewhat resembles Charles Barkley's, led to UMass forward Mike Babul fouling out with six minutes left.
Monty Mack led the Minutemen with 27 points, hitting 6 of 9 shots from 3-point range. Mack had 16 points in the first half, which ended in a 26-26 tie. Temple made sure Mack received increased attention in the second half.
"Instead of helping out down low on Lari (Ketner), they were just staying on me," said Mack, who played all 40 minutes and shot 10 for 18.
Sanchez, who also missed Temple's win over UMass at Mullins Center last year with an injury, was replaced by Quincy Wadley, who is more suited to shooting guard. Temple's other starting guard, Rasheed Brokenborough, helped out in the passing department with five assists.
Wadley had only one assist, but scored 15 points. Just as significantly, neither Temple guard committed a turnover and the Owls as a team had only five, with only one turnover after halftime.
"But without Pepe, we shouldn't have won the game," Temple coach John Chaney said of his junior, who leads the Atlantic 10 (with UMass' Clarke second) in assist-to-turnover ratio.
"Everything (offensively) was out of order," Chaney said. "It could have been a disaster. Pepe means everything to us."
UMass hit 6 of 11 shots from 3-point range in the first half, and was within 54-50 after Kitwana Rhymer made the second of two foul shots with 3:27 left.
"We were down four with 3:20 to go, came down and threw it away twice," Flint said. "Then we came down and threw it away twice. The zone didn't kill us - we threw it away."
Brokenborough's jumper made it 56-50 with 2:50 left, igniting a decisive 8-0 Temple run.
Forward Lamont Barnes scored 15 points and Brokenborough 10 for Temple, while only forward Chris Kirkland (10) joined Mack in double figures for UMass.
The Minutemen missed 5 of 10 foul shots and stand at 56.9 percent this season, the worst in the Atlantic 10.
Flint said Karcher's versatility caused problems that were hard to overcome.
"I thought he might kill us inside, but he popped outside, too," Flint said. "I watched him on tape against Duquesne (a 75-52 Temple win Tuesday) and he couldn't buy one from outside."
HILADELPHIA - The secret is out. On a University of Massachusetts men's
basketball team that yearns for balance, the man most likely to rise above the
rest is junior shooting guard Monty Mack.
Temple guard Quincy Wadley said the Owls were aware of it, helping explain their second-half defensive strategy in the 65-57 win over UMass at the Apollo of Temple yesterday.
"We were trying to find their shooters on the floor, and they didn't have too many shooters," Wadley said. "They had Mack.
"We were trying to double Mack in the corner and force their other guys to make baskets," said Wadley, who started in place of injured Temple point guard Pepe Sanchez and saw Mack from the top of the Owls' matchup zone.
The UMass junior still scored 27 points with nine rebounds, including 16 points in the first half when the Minutemen battled Temple to a 26-26 tie.
If there was a bright spot to the loss, it was that UMass seems to be getting better at figuring out Temple's zone, which bewildered Mack into 4-for-13 shooting when he first saw it at Mullins Center in Amherst last year.
With yesterday's 10-for-18 effort, the 6-foot-3 guard is 18 for 38 in his career against Temple, with his next test coming Feb. 28 at Mullins, the final game of the regular season.
"We've just got to take our time against it and be patient," said Mack, who also led UMass with nine rebounds. "If we do, we can get our shots. But if we'd protected the ball and played a little harder, would could have come out of this with a win."
Mack's work on the boards helped the Minutemen own a 43-32 advantage in that category. He thinks there's still time to piece together a good season, even as UMass sits below .500 again at 8-9.
"We've got to keep it up," he said of the recent improvement. "We've got to keep our confidence up."
When the season began, center Lari Ketner was tabbed as the UMass go-to guy, partly because of the Minutemen's tradition as a team that liked to pound the ball inside. But Mack, who is averaging 20.2 points per game in his last four contests and 17.7 for the season, is attracting plenty of attention as the primary offensive source.
The Temple defense didn't forget about Ketner, who scored eight points on 4-for-9 shooting and played 10 minutes in the first half without taking a shot. The 6-foot-10 center entered the game needing 11 points for a career 1,000, and he still needs three.
"We limited the ball to a few people, because a team has to go through its key people to win," Temple coach John Chaney said.
Temple's increased attention on Mack had its effect in the second half, and the UMass guard scored seven of his 11 points after halftime in the final 47 seconds, after the outcome had been decided.
But Mack's value, which includes what coach Bruiser Flint considers an underrated knack for defense, may be best shown in the category of minutes played. He's averaging nearly 37 a game, the highest on the team, and played all 40 yesterday. In the last six games, he's played 232 of a possible 240 minutes - and UMass is 4-2 in those games.
HILADELPHIA - University of Massachusetts forward Chris Kirkland left the
Apollo of Temple with more than just the bruised feelings caused by defeat
yesterday.
The 6-foot-6 junior required six stitches in his right (shooting) hand after injuring it while going for a loose ball in the Minutemen's 65-57 Atlantic 10 Conference loss to Temple. He's expected to play Tuesday against Fordham, welcome news since Kirkland has become one of UMass' best and most consistent performers.
He scored 10 points yesterday with six rebounds, but like his teammates, felt an opportunity to win a tough road game had slipped away.
"We didn't swing the ball well enough, but we did get open looks," said Kirkland, who had five of UMass' 13 turnovers. "It all goes back to turning the ball over."
UMass trainer Ron Laham stopped short of saying Kirkland would definitely be available Tuesday, since the injury is near the center of his hand and could affect his shooting and ball control. But Kirkland said he expected to be in the lineup against Fordham at Mullins Center in Amherst.
MARATHON MEN: Five of yesterday's 10 starters played all 40 minutes, including all four guards. UMass point guard Charlton Clarke played the entire game without a single turnover, assist or steal, an implausible statistic even against Temple's zone.
Temple guards Quincy Wadley and Rasheed Brokenborough combined for six assists, no turnovers and five steals.
UMass guard Monty Mack led all scorers with 27 points but he also paced all rebounders with nine from the shooting-guard spot, adding to the peculiar statistical wrapup.
BACKUPS: UMass backup point guard Jonathan DePina was never called upon, the first time that's happened in the sophomore's career. DePina has played just seven minutes in the last three games.
Sophomore Rafael Cruz, who was viewed as a possible zone-breaker because of his outside shooting touch, played five minutes with two assists and one turnover, and missed the only shot he took, a 3-pointer. UMass coach Bruiser Flint was noncommittal about using Cruz against zones in future games.
Flint was more satisfied with center Kitwana Rhymer, whose 16 minutes produced four rebounds, three blocks and two points (on free throws).
ET CETERA: In an interview with a Philadelphia reporter this week, UMass center Lari Ketner said he considered quitting the team even before the Jan. 4 loss to Iona, which was considered the low point of the season. Ketner had eight points and five rebounds in 30 minutes against Temple ... Temple coach John Chaney, who turned 67 Thursday, moved to within six wins of career 600 ... Former UMass forward Tyrone Weeks, like Ketner a Philadelphia native, attended the game.
HILADELPHIA-Temple head coach John Chaney looked as if the game was in triple overtime...and we hadn't even started. His tie was, typically, undone. His face contorted but his focus was intent.
Chaney took a seat on the bench and hitched his pants. He leaned forward and readied himself for battle.
So it went in Saturday's Temple-UMass battle at the Apollo. Ultimately the Owls defeated the Minutemen in an exciting contest extending their winning streak to 7 and solidifying their hold on the Atlantic 10's East division.
But it didn't come easy.
"This was a hard game to coach," said Chaney.
He said he took a gamble by not playing injured star Juan "Pepe" Sanchez. "He means everything to us," said Chaney.
With the schedule showing his team had a week until its next game he said the timing was right to rest Sanchez. "This is our whole season," Chaney said.
What Chaney meant was that his team needed to win to maintain its position on top of the A-10's East division. However, to do this he decided to keep Sanchez on the bench to rest his injured right knee.
"Everything," he said, "was out of order. Quincy (Wadley)'s looking for a shot instead of passing the ball and Rasheed (Brokenborough) hasn't hit a shot. That's why I wanted to choke the s&#! out of him."
"Talking about his family hasn't helped," Chaney joked. (I think.)
The Owls may not have the most talent but Chaney schooled UMass' James "Bruiser" Flint for the third straight time dating to last year.
Although this game was yet another disappointment in a miserable season Flint was encouraged. "We had a great effort today. I told the guys (that) we're moving in the right direction."
At 8-9 that direction, barring any A-10 tournament miracle, seems to be toward the N.I.T.
Chaney, meanwhile, has his team peaking. His test is in the next three weeks as 5 of the next 6 are on the road including a nationally televised game at Xavier on February 14.
HILADELPHIA - Trailing
54-50 with three minutes remaining, the University of
Massachusetts defense clamped down as Temple tried to
get a shot off before the shot clock evaporated. While it
ticked down to five, Mark Karcher slipped and fell. As the
UMass defenders converged, Karcher called timeout.
Had the shot clock expired, UMass would have gotten the ball with a chance to cut the Owl lead. But coming out of the timeout, Temple inbounded to Rasheed Brokenborough, who drove past the UMass defense for a lay-up, putting the Owls ahead 56-50.
 Ajmal Basit battles in the post with Temple's Ronald Rollerson. |
"I thought we had a great effort today," said UMass coach Bruiser Flint. "We did exactly what we wanted to do against the matchup zone. We got some great looks, but we didn't get a couple shots to drop and we just turned the ball over. But we're playing better. We're going in the right direction. That's the most important thing right now. Temple is a tough team to play against."
The loss kept the Owls (13-6, 7-0) in first place in the Atlantic 10 East, while the Minutemen (8-9, 4-2) saw their three-game winning streak snapped. UMass plays host to Fordham Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The Minutemen tried to stage a late comeback, but their rushed attempts at offense too often turned into turnovers against Temple's match-up zone.
Temple's win was even more impressive because it came without starting point guard Pepe Sanchez. In his absence, the backcourt tandem of Brokenborough and Quincy Wadley was brilliant. Both spent time at point guard while playing the entire 40 minutes without committing a turnover. Brokenborough had 10 points and five assists; Wadley added 15 points and three steals.
"Without Pepe Sanchez, this could have been a disaster," said Temple coach John Chaney. "We should not have won this game."
After the teams played to a 26-26 halftime deadlock, they went back and forth after intermission, with UMass gaining and losing four two-point leads. After an official timeout with 13:55 left, Wadley nailed a 3-pointer from the left side to give Temple a lead it would never relinquish.
Foul trouble for Mike Babul hurt the Minutemen as he heard whistles No. 3 and 4 in an 18 second span. In his absence, Karcher, whom he had been guarding, got his offensive game going, quickly nailing two 3-pointers.
Flint reinserted Babul, but he fouled out on a Karcher drive with 6:01 left.
Karcher led the Owls with 21 points, while Lamont Barnes added 15.
Temple was tough out of the gate, opening an 11-4 lead, but UMass mounted an 11-0 run with Charlton Clarke hitting two 3-pointers and Monty Mack sinking a three and a two to go ahead, 15-11. Riding a 16-point half by Mack, UMass led by as many as five with 1:30 left in the half, but a three by Karcher and a jumper by Wadley tied the game at intermission.
Mack had game-highs in points (27) and rebounds (9), while Chris Kirkland added 10 points and Lari Ketner finished with eight.
"It feels kind of empty," Mack said of his numbers. "I think we played hard and played aggressive, but they made some big shots and we made some turnovers. I think if we just played a little harder and took care of the ball a little better, we would have come out with a victory."
After a stellar night against St. Joseph's Wednesday, Clarke struggled, with just six points and no assists.
"He didn't try to get in the lane, which hurt us a little bit," Flint said. "When we started doing our thing against the zone, we had openings to drive to the basket, but he didn't."
HILADELPHIA- In the 1990s,
the rivalry between the University of Massachusetts and
Temple has gone in streaks.
The Owls started this decade the way they did the previous ones, sweeping the first five games from the Minutemen. UMass finally beat them on Feb. 16, 1992.
The Minutemen won 13 of the next 15, however, including the last six in a row heading into the 1996-1997 season.
But last year, the tide turned back in favor of the Owls, who pounded the Minutemen twice.
After Saturday's 65-57 win to make it three straight for Temple over UMass, it appears that the momentum might not change any time soon.
In any given season, Temple has the ability to beat anybody. Its difficult match-up zone defense gives the Owls at least a chance, regardless of the opponent.
But the 1998-99 Owls are a lot more than an effective gimmick. To go along with their vaunted defense is a lot of talent. What's more, they're only getting better.
Of their five regular starters, only Rasheed Brokenborough is a senior, and while he's a good player and a strong scorer, Temple will hardly be lost without him.
Lamont Barnes, Quincy Wadley and Pepe Sanchez, who didn't play Saturday because of a knee bruise, will be back for one more year. Mark Karcher is a sophomore, and center Kevin Lyde just a freshman.
Two more years of Karcher may be the most disheartening thing for opponents, at least for UMass. Karcher put the Owls over the top in Saturday's game, scoring 21 points.
It was the Minutemen's first glimpse of Karcher, as the 6-foot-5 forward sat out last year due to NCAA academic regulations.
Karcher is the type of player coaches salivate over. He is strong enough to be effective driving to the basket and fighting for rebounds, but he is also quick enough to work on the perimeter.
His shooting is inconsistent, but when he is on, he can remind observers of ex-Owl and current Los Angeles Laker Eddie Jones. That resemblance could grow over the next two years if he continues to knock down fall-away 3-pointers with a hand in his face.
All his offensive gifts were on display Saturday. When UMass tried to build a lead late in the first half, Karcher engaged Monty Mack in a mini mano-a-mano shooting duel.
With UMass leading 20-18, Karcher buried a contested 3-pointer to give the Owls their first lead since early in the game. Mack answered with two 3-pointers of his own before Karcher had the last word with a bomb from just outside the arc.
The two tangled again midway through the second half. Karcher extended Temple's lead to 43-38 with a three, but Mack responded with a long ball 19 seconds later. When a defender moved over to cover Karcher in the corner, he launched another three and smiled as it dropped through the hoop.
Karcher finished with 13 points in the second half and a team-high 21 in the game.
The Minutemen will try to reverse their trend of recent struggles against the Owls in the final game of the regular season, but not if Karcher has anything to say about it.
HILADELPHIA- For former University of Massachusetts forward
Tyrone Weeks, the reason for calling it quits wasn't about basketball.
A short stint with the Springfield Slamm followed Weeks' UMass career last spring before he signed a contract to play professionally in Argentina. Until recently, Weeks was playing well and his team was in first place, but he wasn't having fun anymore.
"I missed everything about America, especially my family and friends," Weeks said. "I gave it a try. I wasn't playing bad, but after basketball and in between practice and games I was (homesick). I'm awful with Spanish."
Back home in his native Philadelphia, Weeks checked out his Alma Mater's game with Temple Saturday, still deciding what to do next.
"I want to try to get into coaching, either high school or college," Weeks said. "I'll talk to some people and see what happens."
* * *
Senior center Lari Ketner entered the game needing just 11 points to become the 32nd UMass player to score 1,000 points, but he finished with only eight, likely pushing the milestone back to Tuesday's home game against Fordham.
Charlton Clarke is also on the road to the grand club with 954 career points.
* * *
UM*A*S*H... Chris Kirkland suffered a cut to his hand that required stitches late in Saturday's game. He is probable for Tuesday's game against Fordham. Ronell Blizzard missed the Philadelphia trip with bone bruises in his leg.
| Massachusetts Minutemen | 57 |
| Temple Owls | 65 |
| at Temple | |
MASSACHUSETTS (57)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Kirkland 35 5-12 0-0 2-6 2 4 10
Babul 27 1-6 2-2 4-4 5 5 4
Ketner 30 4-9 0-0 2-5 1 2 8
Clarke 40 2-7 0-0 0-6 0 4 6
M Mack 40 10-18 1-2 2-9 2 3 27
Rhymer 16 0-2 2-4 2-4 0 2 2
Cruz 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 2 0
Basit 7 0-2 0-2 2-4 0 1 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 22-57 5-10 14-38 12 23 57
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.386, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:
8-17, .471 (Kirkland 0-1, Babul 0-1, Clarke 2-5,
M Mack 6-9, Cruz 0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked
shots: 6 (Rhymer 3, Basit, Kirkland, Babul).
Turnovers: 13 (Kirkland 5, M Mack 3, Babul 2,
Ketner 2, Cruz). Steals: 3 (Babul, Ketner,
Kirkland).
TEMPLE (65)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Karcher 38 7-17 3-6 2-6 3 2 21
Barnes 40 6-13 3-4 2-8 0 3 15
Lyde 21 0-2 1-2 2-5 0 2 1
Brokenborough 40 3-8 3-6 0-1 5 2 10
Wadley 40 4-9 6-7 1-3 1 2 15
Rollerson 7 0-1 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Sanchez 14 1-2 1-3 3-6 1 1 3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 21-52 17-30 10-29 10 12 65
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.404, FT-.567. 3-Point Goals:
6-16, .375 (Karcher 4-9, Barnes 0-1,
Brokenborough 1-2, Wadley 1-4). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 3 (Barnes 3). Turnovers: 5
(Karcher 3, Barnes 2). Steals: 10 (Wadley 3,
Brokenborough 2, Karcher 2, Barnes, Lyde,
Sanchez).
__________________________________
Massachusetts 26 31 - 57
Temple 26 39 - 65
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 9,246. Officials:
Larry Lembo, Rich Sanfillipo, Joe Demayo.
