HILADELPHIA - The visitors led by 2 with 15:49 left in the game. The confused stares they wore in the first meeting between the teams had been replaced by looks of confidence. It appeared the University of Massachusetts had solved Temple's puzzling matchup zone. After being humiliated by the Owls Feb. 3 in Amherst, and after trailing by as many as 11 in the first half yesterday, the 20th-ranked Minutemen were in command, primed for their biggest win of the season and the Atlantic 10 regular-season crown.

UMass coach Bruiser Flint will spend the next two days trying to recapture that moment. Right now, he's among many wondering why it didn't last. Instead, No. 24 Temple responded with a 17-2 run, aided in part by several Minuteman mistakes and defensive lapses. The Owls then cruised to a 74-66 triumph to capture their first regular-season crown since 1990, and UMass left the court more puzzled about its play of late than Temple's matchup zone.

Are the Minutemen burned out? Having finished the regular season losing three of their last four games, can they recapture the form that led to a 10-game winning streak from Jan. 3 to Feb. 1 and vaulted them back into the Top 25 for the first time in nearly two seasons?

''Some of the guys who have played extremely well for me throughout the course of the season, to help us get to this position, they're struggling right now,'' said Flint, whose team (20-9, 12-4) finished third in the A-10 East Division, having dropped from the first-place position it held much of the season.

Yesterday's loss also cost the Minutemen a first-round bye in this week's league tournament. UMass will meet Virginia Tech (sixth place in the West Division) in a first-round game here Wednesday afternoon at 2. The winner will meet George Washington in Thursday's second round at 2:30 p.m. UMass defeated both teams in the regular season during its 10-game win streak.

''We just have to get rejuvenated for the tournament,'' said Flint. ''We just have guys playing tentative. We just have to come out and play. I keep telling them, `I can't go out there and play for you.'''

Guard Monty Mack led the Minutemen with 15 points. Temple guard Pepe Sanchez, who did not play in the first meeting this year because of injury, had a team-high 19 points for the Owls, who had bounced back from a 17-point loss at Maryland Saturday.

The Minutemen, who field eight players with little experience against Temple's matchup zone, were much improved from their 61-47 loss to Temple in Amherst, yet as in Wednesday night's defeat at St. Bonaventure, they made many unforced errors.

Sloppy ball handling were part of 20 UMass turnovers and 16 Temple steals.

UMass rallied from a 31-20 deficit to trail, 33-27, at halftime. After going the entire first half without a foul shot, the Minutemen began getting calls on drives to the hoop at the start of the second half and sank six of six free throws in an 8-0 run for a 35-33 advantage.

Then Temple guard Rasheed Brokenborough drained a trey to put Temple back up by 1. UMass turned the ball over twice, and Brokenborough scored on a layup on the second miscue to put the Owls ahead, 38-35. Then UMass forward Mike Babul missed a shot and committed a foul. Two free throws by Brokenborough put Temple up by 5.

UMass guard Charlton Clarke sank two free throws to cut the lead to 40-37, and then Sanchez went to work. With the UMass defense slacking off, he drained consecutive treys and scored on a pullup jumper, putting Temple ahead, 48-37. ''I told [Brokenborough] that we have to play,'' said Sanchez. ''We can play bad. We can play good. We can win. We can lose. But [yesterday] we have to play. [Saturday], we didn't play.''

UMass, which committed four consecutive turnovers during the sequence, fell behind by as many as 15 before making a mild run late. ''When we played the last time we did a good job of taking care of the ball. We had only seven turnovers,'' said Flint. ''[Yesterday] we had 20. I think that was the biggest thing.''

When the buzzer sounded, many from a partisan Temple crowd of 10,021 stormed the court in celebration. And UMass began to regroup.

''We're not playing as aggressive as we were in January,'' said forward Tyrone Weeks. ''We're not doing the little things. We need to get back to that if we want to win the A-10 tournament.''

HILADELPHIA - The Temple men's basketball team's formidable match-up zone defense exposed Massachusetts' youth and fatigue, and pushed the Owls to the regular season Eastern Division title in Philadelphia yesterday.

With their 74-66 win at the Apollo of Temple, the Owls (20-7, 13-3 Atlantic 10) earned the East number one seed and a first-round bye in the Atlantic 10 tournament, which starts Wednesday afternoon at the CoreEstates Spectrum. UMass (20-9, 12-4) finishes the regular season third in the East, with a game against West number six Virginia Tech (10-16, 5-11) in the first round of the tourney Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Coming out of halftime, UMass, which had played a virtually ineffective first half, was able to tie the game and then take the lead, using an 8-0 run to grab a 35-33 lead with 15:49 remaining. The key to the run was the team's free throws. After not seeing the line at all in the first half, the Minutemen hit on all six attempts to snatch away the lead. On the afternoon, UMass finished 18-of-19 from the charity stripe.

Temple responded with a three-pointer from Rasheed Brokenborough to give the Owls the lead for good. As UMass committed two consecutive turnovers, Brokenborough connected on a layup and a pair of free throws to give Temple a 40-35 lead.

After Charlton Clarke hit two free throws, Owls point guard Pepe Sanchez, who did not play in Temple's 61-47 win at the William D. Mullins Center on Feb. 3, broke UMass' back with a pair of NBA-range three-pointers. The shots put UMass down by nine and the Minutemen would not cut that margin until Clarke hit a 34-footer at the final buzzer.

"They made their run, but we were able to hold them off," said Temple senior Lynard Stewart, who was honored before his final home game. "We made a run and they just couldn't come back from it."

Temple's offense may have provided the winning points, but it was its defense that befuddled the Minutemen, who had 20 turnovers in the game. From the time they grabbed the lead at the 15:11 mark until a Stewart layup put the Owls up by 13 with 9:46 remaining, UMass committed six turnovers.

"The turnovers killed us," Massachusetts coach Bruiser Flint said. "In the last game we did a good job protecting the ball. Today we were throwing passes without looking.

"You have to be patient against the zone. The guys we've got right now just aren't used to it. They forced us to throw the ball away, and that was the difference right there."

By the time Sanchez dropped in his two key three- pointers, UMass' weariness was already showing.

"We're not playing as aggressively as we were in January," said UMass senior forward Tyrone Weeks, who became the eighth player in school history to record 1,000 points and 800 rebounds. "It seems like [Temple] wanted it more than we did."

Flint, who was assessed a technical in the first half, also noticed his team's fatigue.

"We've got guys playing tentatively," Flint said. "We haven't got somebody diving onto the floor or knocking people around. I guess we have to go back to diving and knocking people around in practice."

One bright spot for Flint was the play of freshman guard Rafael Cruz, who pocketed a career high eight points off the bench, providing a late game spark for the Minutemen.

"I'm happy with Rafael, I think he did well," Flint said. "He didn't play all season. He could've come out there scared to death.

"Now I know who to go to," Flint said as he continued nodding when asked if he would use Cruz again.

For the Minutemen, the task at hand does not get any easier. The team will have to win four games in four days for the A-10 tournament title and the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

"The cards are dealt to us," Flint said. "If you start worrying about that, than you've already lost."

HILADELPHIA-This one truly hurt.

Forget about the three losses in four games. Forget about the mediocre performance against St. Joseph's, and the St. Bonaventure game that got away. Because the only game that had any impact on the season of the Massachusetts men's basketball team was yesterday at Temple, and the Minutemen came up well short, 74-66.

UMass (20-9, 12-4 in Atlantic 10), who was the at the top of the A-10 Eastern Division all season long, dropped to the number three seed heading into this week's conference tournament (March 4-7), and therefore lost the right to a valuable first round bye. To recapture the league throne they owned for five consecutive seasons (1992-96), the Minutemen now have to win four games in four days.

UMass opens up Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. against Virginia Tech, and may have a date in the second round against George Washington. Massachusetts beat the Hokies 68-59 on Jan. 24 in Blacksburg, Va.

The Temple Owls, now the number one seed in the Eastern Division, have a far easier road ahead of them. Winners off seven straight league games, the Owls proved yesterday that they are, without a doubt, the best the A-10 has to offer.

Temple, which moves to 20-7, 13-3, swept the season series against UMass for the first time the 1990-91 campaign. They accomplished it with arguably the best matchup zone defense in the nation.

Though UMass responded with 50 percent shooting and six three-pointers, the Minutemen committed 22 fouls and had far too many turnovers. The Owls got to the free throw line 32 times, while Massachusetts' first free throws came in the opening moments of the second half.

"You have to be patient against the zone, and we weren't," Massachusetts coach Bruiser Flint said. "Not Edgar [Padilla] and Carmelo [Travieso], their mouths salivated when we played Temple."

Temple point guard Pepe Sanchez didn't play when the Owls beat UMass in Amherst back on Feb. 3, but the Argentina native made up for it yesterday with 19 points, five steals, four assists and four long range three-pointers.

Two of the bombs came 25 seconds apart in the second half, and turned a one possession game into an insurmountable nine point edge for Temple.

"I told Rasheed [Brokenborough] that we have to play today," Sanchez said. "It doesn't matter if we win or lose, we just have to play."

Mike Babul and Ajmal Basit mug Rashid Brokenborough.

Brokenborough scored 15 points, and hit perhaps the biggest shot of the game: a second half three that gave the Owls the lead at 36-35 after UMass recaptured it with an 8- 0 run to begin the half.

But it wasn't all sour for UMass. The Minutemen converted on 18-of-19 free throws, all in the second half. And freshman Rafael Cruz, who replaced Jonathan DePina after an ineffective stint with a pair of turnovers and no points, scored a career-high eight points and made his case for additional time at backup point guard.

"I'm happy with Rafael. I think he did well," Flint said. "He didn't play all season. He could have come out there scared to death."

The loss will likely affect who and where UMass plays in the NCAA tournament beginning in two weeks, putting the Minutemen in a pressure situation to perform well in the league tourney.

Temple coach John Chaney said the league is extremely deep this year.

"The conference is good from top to bottom," Chaney said. "It's very difficult to beat up everyone in your conference every day. Sooner or later, the little guy wins."

Flint, however, says UMass will concentrate on winning one game at a time.

"The cards are dealt to us," Flint said. "If you start worrying about that, then you've already lost."

month ago, it seemed impossible.

A month from now, it might not seem like such a big deal. For example, by the time the NCAA champion is crowned, will anyone really remember -- or even care -- that Duke, not North Carolina, was the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season champ?

But for a Temple program that hadn't won the Atlantic 10 regular-season title since 1990, yesterday's 74-66 home victory over old nemesis Massachusetts at the Apollo should remain a keepsake. It gave the Owls (20-7, 13-3) the A-10 East title, by a game over UMass and Rhode Island. The same Owls who trailed UMass by three in the loss column heading into February. The same Owls who ended January with back-to-back losses against Dayton and Xavier.

At that point, they were just trying to do what just about every other Temple team this decade has done -- win just enough games to earn an at-large bid to the only tournament that counts. But less than 24 hours after their seven-game winning streak was obliterated by Maryland in Baltimore, the Owls completed an improbable four-week run that began with a 14-point win at UMass on Feb. 3.

The A-10 Tournament begins Wednesday at the Coretates Spectrum. The Owls do not play until Thursday's noon quarterfinal, when they'll meet the winner of the opening-round matchup between La Salle and St. Joseph's. The Owls haven't won the A-10 tourney in eight years. The last six years, the team that finished with the best conference record also has won the tourney.

For the 12th time in 16 seasons on North Broad Street, and 20th time in 26 years overall, a John Chaney team has won 20 games.

"It just means I'm an old man," he said. "If you coach as long as I have, you should have that many."

As usual, he's being modest. This team -- which lost last year's A-10 Player of the Year, Marc Jackson, to the pros a year early -- has one senior, forward Lynard Stewart. Everyone else in the rotation is in either his first or second year. Yet, here they are.

"I thought we were going to tread water all season long, even after we got off to a good start [ 6-1 ] ," Chaney said. "I didn't think this is something that could happen. The kids surprised me. I don't think it was anything I did. The kids just gave us a lot of effort.

"It's an aberration. I still don't believe it. I know these kids. I work with them every day."

After "that terrible" 17-point loss Saturday, Chaney said, "I told them, 'You have to make this game too big for [ UMass ] to win.' This was a moment for them, in their life."

The Owls were up by 11 with five minutes left in the first half, after Lynn Greer made two free throws courtesy of a technical foul on UMass coach James "Bruiser" Flint. By the break, the lead was six as the Owls scored only one basket the rest of the way. The Minutemen (20-9, 12-4), who played five overtime periods in their last three games, two of which were losses, scored the first eight points of the second half to go ahead by a deuce at the first television timeout (15:49). In the next two minutes, Rasheed Brokenborough made a three-pointer, a layup and a pair of free throws. Temple's only quality big man, Lamont Barnes, went to the bench with his third personal foul moments later.

It didn't matter. Pepe Sanchez then swished back-to-back treys from the right wing, followed by a fallaway two from just inside the arc. UMass would go almost 13 minutes without a field goal. It was one of the best stretches for Temple in this or any recent season. The Owls scored on eight of 10 possessions. At the other end, UMass was struggling just to get a shot off.

The Minutemen hung in shooting 9-for-10 at the foul line. When Ajmal Basit made a three-point play with 2:21 showing, it was a nine-point game. But the Owls converted 11 of 15 freebies to give them their first sweep in this series since 1990-91. Coming into this season, the Minutemen had won 12 of the previous 13 meetings. "The way we played Saturday made us feel really frustrated," said Sanchez, who had 19 points (4-for-7 on three-pointers) and five steals. "I told Rasheed before the game, 'OK, this time we go out and play. We can play good, we can play bad. We can win, we can lose. But we must play.' [ Saturday ] we did not play.

"We wanted to be champions. But in our minds, we just wanted to play good and beat UMass. We wanted to show we were better than Saturday. That was important for us. I think we'll appreciate the championship more at the end of the year."

Brokenborough had 15 points on only eight shots, including 3-for-4 from three-point range. Barnes had 11 and only three rebounds, all off the offensive glass. Didn't matter. Keaton Sanders had five boards and two steals in 19 minutes off the bench. Stewart was 3-for-3 from the floor, to go with six boards. And Quincy Wadley, who was doubtful after injuring his right foot against Maryland, supplied four assists and two steals in 26 minutes.

"There couldn't have been any better way than this, to go out winning the conference," Stewart said. "I'm going to remember this the rest of my life.

"Our goal is always to make it to the NCAA Tournament. So when this came along, it's like a little something extra."

UMass will be the third seed from the division and play Virginia Tech, the last-place team from the West, at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The Minutemen, who had 20 turnovers, could face Temple again in Friday night's first semifinal.

Whatever happens, both teams will be in the 64-team NCAA field. As far as Chaney's concerned, that has always been enough.

"Every year on Oct. 15, I draw a line on the board that ends in March," he said. "That's where you want to be, one of 64. Everything in between, it's all gravy."

emple's point guard, Pepe Sanchez, took turns yesterday driving his coach insane and driving a stake through the heart of Massachusetts.

Sixth man Quincy Wadley, so often the engine that makes these Owls go, played 26 sore-footed minutes, after his coach didn't think he'd be able to play at all.

Rasheed Brokenborough, who had a career-low four points just the day before, had almost twice that many yesterday in the two-minute span that put Temple ahead for good.

Yesterday, the 24th-ranked Owls completed a home-and-home sweep of their most fervent rival, UMass, 74-66, at the Apollo. Sanchez had a season-high 19 points, five steals -- and a collection of long-ball passes that left John Chaney stalking the sideline and crying the blues.

Add up all this season's come-from-way-behind messes against teams with losing records, add them to the string of impressive victories over the Atlantic Ten powerhouses, and the Owls finished the A-10 regular season at 13-3, the best record in the league.

They won the regular-season title in 1990; this is their first time on top since the conference was split into two divisions three years ago. They're the East Division champions and the top seed in this week's conference tournament at the CoreStates Spectrum. At noon Thursday, they'll play the winner of Wednesday's game between St. Joseph's and La Salle.

"I thought we were going to tread water all season long, even though we got off to a good start. The kids surprised me. I don't think it's anything I did," Chaney said after the Owls improved to 20-7, giving him his 20th 20-win season in 26 years of college coaching.

This was only the second time in the last 10 seasons that Temple got its 20th win before the league tournament (the other was in 1993-94, when Aaron McKie and Eddie Jones were seniors).

Of course, only the Owls would prepare for one of their biggest games of the year by going out of town the day before and getting blown out by an Atlantic Coast Conference team.

They followed up Saturday's lethargic loss at Maryland with Sanchez and Brokenborough (15 points) shooting the life out of 20th-ranked UMass (20-9, 12-4), while the Minutemen struggled to connect even on passes, committing 20 turnovers. "They want you to rush your shots; they want you to rush your offense," UMass forward Tyrone Weeks said of the Owls. "The defense wants you to panic. Sometimes, we did. . . . We have young guys who've never seen a zone."

In winning its eighth game in the last nine, Temple led almost the entire first half, by as many as 11 points, before UMass had a 7-2 run at the end of the first half, and then scored the first eight points after halftime. In that time, almost 10 minutes, the Owls had two points. With 15 minutes, 49 seconds left in the game, UMass led, 35-33.

But then came the stretch that decided the game. Brokenborough hit a catch-and-shoot three from the left corner to give Temple the lead. Then he had a fast-break layup on a pass from Sanchez after a UMass turnover. Two Brokenborough free throws put Temple up by 40-35 with 13:08 left.

After a couple of free throws by UMass guard Charlton Clarke, Sanchez hit a three-pointer from the right side, followed by another three right on top of it after a Keaton Sanders steal. After that, Temple's lead got as high as 15. The final score was as close as UMass got.

In 10 possessions, Temple scored eight times, making 8 of 11 shots. Meanwhile, the Minutemen, finding great trouble even making entry passes, and finding few open looks outside, had six turnovers, an air ball and a shot off the backboard during that same stretch.

More amazing, Temple played most of the stretch without the usually indispensible Lamont Barnes, who was sitting with three fouls. Right to the end, this game could have been scripted by the Owls. Their points in the last 30 seconds were scored on free throws by the three seniors playing their last Apollo game.

Lynard Stewart made one, then reserves Chris Laws and Damien Reid, the first two Chaney walk-ons ever to earn scholarships, were fouled and each made two free throws.

"Lynard's always had a time clock in his head," said Chaney, who has depended on Stewart to play all over the court on defense. "He's the guy who takes the ball out-of-bounds. He's the guy we try to get the ball to underneath against bigger players, hoping he can create fouls. Knowing the time situation and the score should be in the heads of all players. Lynard is smart enough to know that."

Wadley, who had injured his foot against Maryland, didn't tell anybody until after the game. He just kept playing. He had it X-rayed Saturday night, with no break found, then wore a boot overnight, and played heavily taped.

"I may have put the team at risk," Chaney said of playing that Maryland game. "Without Quincy, we could not have won today." Wadley didn't have his shooting touch (1 of 6, including 0 for 5 on threes), but contributed four assists with just one turnover, and had two steals while joining Sanchez and Brokenborough defensively to shut off the outside.

But the show was put on by Sanchez. He was hitting running shots, tying up UMass big men underneath, grabbing his usual collection of steals. (He is tied for the nation's lead in steals.)

Of course, Chaney would have preferred a stripped-down, no-frills show. "Pick out an adjective. You don't want to use one of mine," Chaney said of the electrifying, always-on-the-edge performance by Sanchez. "Pick one out from the dictionary. I don't get it."

Sanchez thinks he has improved since last season, because now he at least knows while he's making a questionable pass that it's a questionable pass. Sometimes he lets it go on instinct, he said. "I told Rasheed before the game, 'OK, now we've got to play,' " Sanchez said, pointing out that they hadn't done that against Maryland. "We can play good; we can play bad. We can win; we can lose. But we've got to play."

irst of all, before congratulating Temple on winning the Atlantic Ten East and Owls coach John Chaney for his 20th 20-win season, here's a question:

What is wrong with you people?

There were empty seats at the Apollo yesterday, on a Sunday afternoon when nothing much was going on. Sports fans weren't flocking to the CoreStates Center to watch Pete Sampras beat Thomas Enqvist, that's for sure.

Video clip: Lari Ketner cleans up the garbage. 1.6m AVI Courtesey: ABC

So here was Temple, providing Philadelphia with its singular bright basketball moment this season -- winning an unlikely division title with a team that is supposed to be a year away from greatness, a team that has confounded Chaney with mature play way too many times, and playing against a real rival, a team coached by another Philly guy, Bruiser Flint, and led by two Philadelphia natives, Tyrone Weeks and Lari Ketner -- and there were empty seats in the brand-new arena that is supposed to revitalize this part of the city.

Let's repeat, then: What is wrong with you people?

Bill Cosby managed to make it to the game. He came out at halftime to honor Al Shrier, the forever sports information director at Temple who will have the media room at the Apollo named after him. If Cosby couldn't find something more important to do than watch his alma mater reclaim a title that used to seem like a birthright, then what's up with the rest of you?

And too bad for you, because this game was immensely entertaining and very important. The winner was to be seeded first in the coming A-10 tournament. The loser would end up having to play an extra A-10 tournament game, having lost a first-round bye as well as the title.

Ajmal Basit, Pepe Sanchez and Keaton Sanders all watch the ball bounce out of reach.

It was important, too, to see how the young Owls responded after losing a stinker on Saturday against Maryland in Baltimore. Chaney called this back-to-back scheduling of terribly tough games "a risk," and certainly the positive momentum of the seven-game winning streak that ended Saturday would have disappeared.

That is not what you want to happen as NCAA tournament time approaches.

For UMass, too, there was momentum to be grabbed. The Minutemen had split their last four games and played five overtime periods in their last three. Flint had found his players to be aggressive and eager during a 10-game winning streak in January, but now they had become tentative, hesitant, lacking in emotion. So Flint tried to provide the emotion. He broke a clipboard and threw two pens out of his team's huddle and on to the court. His players did a lot of extracurricular pushing and shoving and talking into the faces of the Owls, but when it came to fighting for rebounds or loose balls, that enthusiasm wasn't apparent.

The game belonged to Temple. The Owls did all the little things right. Coming off picks, rushing to defend the right man, tipping the rebound they couldn't quite hold to one of their own guys, hurtling themselves after their own missed shot so they could steal the rebound -- they did all these things.

In the last minute, the Owls were able to celebrate in the best way: by getting the walk-on seniors into the game. Both of them, Chris Laws and Damien Reid, made two foul shots each while their teammates cheered and Chaney brushed away tears. And when the game ended, when Temple had won, 74-66, it seemed for a moment that no one knew how to react. There was a minute of near silence before students began to slowly come on to the court and celebrate. There was a halfhearted attempt to cut down the net, but a stern look from security stopped the attempt.

The Owls themselves didn't go crazy, either. No high-fives or pumping fists, and most of them lingered on the court only because they got caught in the middle of milling students.

Chaney said this East Division title was "an aberration," something totally unexpected but also superfluous.

As he explained, every season he draws a line on the blackboard. The line goes from Game 1 to NCAA selection Sunday. The goal is to be in the final field of 64. It is not to capture the A-10 title or beat UMass twice or be ranked nationally or win 20 games.

All those 20-win seasons? To Chaney, they mean he is old, he said. Lynard Stewart, the only Temple senior who plays a lot, said he couldn't quite explain what winning an A-10 title meant to him. After all, Temple hadn't won one in his time.

From 1984 to 1990, Temple won four regular-season titles, and Chaney's Owls set a standard that made all the other teams in the league improve. Three years ago, the conference was split into two divisions. The best learners were the guys at UMass, who had owned the 1990s like Temple had the 1980s.

But winning another yesterday? No big deal. The big deals are coming up. Keeping up momentum this week in the conference tournament. Waiting for the NCAA draw on Sunday. Watching to see if these young Owls can surprise Chaney some more.

For they have been a bright spot in a sad college season. Villanova has fallen apart. St. Joe's has lost too many players to bad grades and bad injuries. La Salle still doesn't have enough players. Drexel couldn't find rhythm or chemistry. Penn couldn't even think of being better than Princeton.

Only Temple has been usually good and always fun. Come out and see them some time.

HILADELPHIA - After criticizing his team's offensive execution all season, Temple coach John Chaney couldn't believe that his team actually turned in an impressive showing at both ends of the floor Sunday.

Lari Ketner isn't happy with the result: a loss of the game and the divsion title.

Bruiser Flint believes it. He had to watch the Owls score inside and outside, while they dealt the University of Massachusetts its second straight loss, 74-66, at the Apollo at Temple.

"We lost to a good team today," Flint said. "This is the team that is the most difficult for us to play. We don't shoot well and you have to against their zone. Temple has played well. They've been the hottest team in the league."

The win gave Temple (20-7, 13-3) the Atlantic 10 East regular season title, while the Minutemen (20-9, 12-4) fell to the No. 3 seed in the East. The Atlantic 10 Tournament begins Wednesday at the CoreStates Spectrum in Philadelphia, where UMass will face Virginia Tech at 2 p.m. If the Minutemen win, they play George Washington at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

"I don't know how we won this ball game," Chaney said. "Kids just gave us a lot of effort and a lot of hustle. I still don't believe it. I know these kids and I work with them every day."

Prior to the game there was speculation about whether Temple would be tired after losing to Maryland 83-66 Saturday, but the Owls showed no ill effects from the loss as they dominated for most of the contest.

UMass was encouraged early when it opened up a 7-4 lead that included a smooth 3-pointer by Monty Mack, one that announced the return of his shooting stroke. Mack was a rare bright spot for the Minutemen, finishing with 15 points and shooting 60 percent for three-point land.

A Lamont Barnes basket in the low post cut the score to 7-6, and a very long 3-pointer by Pepe Sanchez gave the Owls their first lead of the game at 9-7 with 15:14 left in the first half. The two teams stayed close until 9:41 when Lynn Greer started a 9-0 run that was capped by another Sanchez trey that gave the Owls a 26-16 lead.

Flint sparred with the officials throughout and earned a technical foul with five minutes left till halftime. After Greer hit both ensuing free throws, the Owls led 31-20.

Sparked by their coach's anger the Minutemen put together their best stretch of the game. Beginning with a Tyrone Weeks basket with 3:07 left in the half, UMass began a 15-2 run that spilled into the second half and gave UMass a 35-33 lead just over four minutes after halftime.

But the Minutemen didn't lead for long. Temple countered with a run of its own. The Owls outscored UMass 22-5 over the next 7:56 and never looked back. Sanchez had eight points and four steals in that stretch. Sanchez finished with 19 points and five steals to lead Temple.

"Temple bounced back," Weeks said. "At one point Sanchez hit two big threes and I guess they pulled away from there."

Video clip: Rafael Cruz penetrates then dishes to Ajmal Basit for 2. 304k AVI Courtesey: ABC

Shortly after, trailing, 55-42, with 6:44 remaining, Flint inserted Rafael Cruz into the Minutemen line-up. To most UMass onlookers, that appeared to be the coaching equivalent of Flint throwing his arms in the air in despair, but the freshman played well in his six minutes of action, scoring eight points and handing out three assists. He was 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

"I'm happy for Rafael," Flint said. "He hasn't played the whole season. He threw the ball away a couple times, but I thought he did a good job. He could have come out and been scared to death, but he didn't and did a decent job."

Cruz's minutes came at the expense of Jonathan DePina, who had been struggling, but Flint isn't giving up on him yet.

"Jon's been great. The kid's been a godsend," Flint said. "Lots of freshmen struggle like this. It's just happening at the wrong time for us."

It was Temple's senior day and two of those seniors were walk-ons. Both Chris Laws and Damien Reid got into the game and hit free throws to seal the Temple victory.

After the game Flint pointed to Temple's defense and to his own club's inexperience against the zone.

"A couple times we threw balls without even looking," said Flint, whose team committed 20 turnovers. "You have to be patient against the zone. We have first-year guys trying to play against the matchup zone. The guys we have just aren't used to it."

Charlton Clarke added 13 points for the Minutemen, while Lari Ketner finished a dozen.

HILADELPHIA - After Sunday's 74-66 loss to Temple, the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team faces a tall order. No team has ever won four games in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, but that's what UMass needs to do to capture the Atlantic 10 title.

The defeat moved UMass into a tie for second place in the A-10 East with Rhode Island as both teams are 12-4 in conference play. Rhode Island earns the No. 2 seed in the East and a first-round bye. That's because after head-to-head play (UMass and URI split), the next tie breaker is record within division. UMass is 6-4, while Rhody is 7-3.

The Minutemen will take on Virginia Tech at 2 p.m. Wednesday. UMass defeated the Hokies, 68-59, on Jan. 24 in Blacksburg, Va.

A UMass win would give the Minutemen a 2:30 p.m. quarterfinal game Thursday against George Washington, the No. 2 seed in the West. The Colonials eliminated the Minutemen, 58-49 in the quarterfinals last year.

Also on UMass' side of the bracket, La Salle (West No. 4) faces St. Joseph's (East No 5.) in a first-round match up with some Philly flavor. The winner of that game takes on top seed Temple Thursday.

By virtue of its win over Dayton Sunday, Xavier captured the top seed in the West and won't play until Thursday, when it takes on the winner of St. Bonaventure (E-4) and Duquesne (W-5). Rhode Island has the other bye and will face the winner of Dayton (W-3) and Fordham (E-6).

The fact that no team has ever won the tournament without a first-round bye isn't as imposing as it sounds for the Minutemen. Until the 1994-95 season, the Atlantic 10 had only 10 teams, so only the bottom four teams in the league played first-round games. Since expansion, the Atlantic dozen has had its lower eight teams playing on day one for only two seasons.

* * *

Tyrone Weeks' six-point performance brought him to 1,003 for his career, making him only the 31st player in UMass history to pass the grand milestone. He is also only the eighth player in UMass history to score both 1,000 points and grab 800 rebounds.

* * *

Comedian Bill Cosby attended the game. Cosby is an alumnus of both Temple (undergraduate) and UMass (graduate) and retains a close friendship with Owls coach John Chaney. Cosby roots vehemently for Temple.

MASSACHUSETTS (66)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Babul           25   2-4   0-0   1-2  3  4    4
Weeks           26   2-3   2-2   1-2  0  4    6
Ketner          34   5-7   2-2   3-6  0  1   12
Clarke          40  4-10   2-2   0-2  3  0   13
Mack            37   4-7   4-4   1-3  1  2   15
Basit           16   2-6   2-3   3-5  0  5    6
Kirkland         7   1-2   0-0   0-1  0  0    2
Depina           8   0-0   0-0   0-0  3  1    0
Cruz             6   1-3   6-6   0-1  3  4    8
Burns            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-42 18-19  9-22 13 22   66
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.947. 3-Point Goals:
6-14, .429 (Clarke 3-7, Mack 3-5, Cruz 0-2). Team
rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: None. Turnovers: 20
(Mack 4, Babul 3, Clarke 3, Cruz 2, Depina 2,
Ketner 2, Kirkland 2, Weeks 2). Steals: 5 (Ketner
2, Babul, Clarke, Mack).

TEMPLE (74)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Dunkley         13   1-3   0-0   2-2  0  1    3
Stewart         28   3-3  4-10   2-6  1  3   10
Barnes          29   5-8   1-1   3-3  0  3   11
Sanchez         35  7-17   1-2   1-3  4  4   19
Brokenborough   30   5-8   2-4   0-3  2  1   15
Sanders         19   0-2   1-2   3-5  0  2    1
Greer           12   1-3   4-4   0-0  1  1    6
Wadley          26   1-6   3-3   1-1  4  1    5
Tabb             4   0-0   0-2   2-3  0  0    0
Reid             1   0-0   2-2   0-0  0  0    2
Laws             1   0-0   2-2   0-0  0  0    2
Calhoun          1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Moore            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-50 20-32 14-26 12 17   74
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.460, FT-.625. 3-Point Goals:
8-22, .364 (Dunkley 1-3, Barnes 0-1, Sanchez 4-7,
Brokenborough 3-4, Greer 0-2, Wadley 0-5). Team
rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 1 (Barnes).
Turnovers: 13 (Sanchez 4, Barnes, Brokenborough,
Greer, Tabb, Wadley). Steals: 16 (Sanchez 5,
Dunkley 3, Brokenborough 2, Sanders 2, Wadley 2,
Greer, Stewart).
__________________________________
Massachusetts      27   39  -   66
Temple             33   41  -   74
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Massachusetts 1 (Bench).  A:
10,021. Officials: Jody Silvester, Joe Demayo,
Gene Monje.