Author Archives: connorshowalter

Men’s basketball will face South Florida in 2 Rd. of NCAA Tourney

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The men’s basketball found out its second round match up Wednesday night when South Florida defeated California, 65-54, in the play-in game at Dayton, Ohio.

The Bulls played stiff defense and limited the Bears to 5-of-24 shooting at halftime and began the second half with a 36-13 lead. On the year, South Florida has had just three games where its offense has scored more points at halftime.

Check back at www.temple-news.com for coverage of the men’s basketball team in Nashville, Tenn. Coverage begins at the team’s practice on Thursday, in preparation for the Owls’ Friday game at 9:50 p.m.

(Watch TNT for the nationally-televised broadcast of the game).

Nikorak leads Owls to win over Penn on the diamond

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Temple overcame a five-zero deficit after two innings to tie the game at seven in the eighth before prevailing,11-9, in the 11th innig to spoil Penn’s 2012 home debut.

By Scott Samuel David Weiss
UNIVERSITY CITY, Pa.- Following a disappointing 9-7 defeat at the hands of visiting LaSalle on Tuesday March 13, the Owls had fewer than 22 hours to regroup before their next Big Five showdown at Pennsylvania’s Meiklejohn Stadium on Wednesday, March 14.
Temple’s defeat by LaSalle had been the final game of a four-game homestand at Ambler’s Skip Wilson Field, in which the Owls outscored opponents, 29-28. Penn, which made its 2012 home debut in front of nearly 100 spectators, played eight consecutive road contests to begin this season, and they have been outscored 62-38.
After the Owls fell short in their comeback attempt against LaSalle a day before (in which Temple rallied trailing 8-0 to trailing 8-7), Temple had been bailed by a game-tying three-run sayonara by redshirt-senior third basemen Steve Nikorak in the bottom of the eighth to knot the score at seven.
The Owls and Quakers could not tally another run in their frames of the ninth, sending this Big Five contest to extra innings, where the visiting Owls prevailed against the host Quakers, 11-9, snapping a two-game skid.
The visiting Owls began the game with a fifth-pitch hit-by-pitch to Jordan Queja by Penn righty Connor Cuff to lead off the first. However, Cuff’s next three batters saw nine pitches, including strikeouts of Nikorak and Elijah Yarborough. In the bottom of the first, Owls righty Ryan Kuehn, making his first start of 2012, struggled after retiring Brandon Engelhardt on a right field flyout. Then, the Quakers’ Greg Zerback had been hit on his back on a cutter from Kuehn, and Spencer Branigan followed with a single.
There had been two on and one out with the count at two balls and two strikes when Quaker Ryan Dietrich, Penn’s leading hitter at .393, sent a screamer to deep left field onto the protection screen over the 365 mark for a three-run sayonara to put Penn leading 3-0. One more run crossed for the hosts on a Foster Dunigan Error, which had Derek Vigoa score from second for a Penn 4-0 advantage.
Connor Reilly’s one-out single in the Owls’ top of the second wiith one out  turned into a pickled when he was caught between second and third, and Matt Elko grounded out to second. Engelhardt walked, stole second, reached third on a Kuehn misthrow to first, and scored on a Zerback sacrifice fly for a 5-0 Quaker lead after two.
Temple nor Penn scored in the third, which included a one-two-three inning from Kuehn in the bottom half. First-year coach Ryan Wheeler saw his Owls find their groove off Cuff in the top of the fourth, receiving two runs on two hits, including an RBI double from Elko that brought in Reilly, cutting the Penn edge to 5-2. Kuehn allowed an infield single to Kyle Toomey in the bottom half, but Toomey had been caught stealing second to end the frame.
“Let’s stay up now and get in this game,” Wheeler yelled at his players while approaching the bottom half of the fourth.
Additional chances of trimming Penn’s lead in the top of the frame began with Dunigan walking, but Queja grounded into a five-six-three double play. Nick Lustrino drew the Owls’ second walk of the inning before Nikorak struck out swinging.
Entering the bottom of the fifth, Wheeler removed Kuehn after four innings of four hits, five runs (four earned), one walk, and one strikeout. Steve Visnic, a sidearm righty, replaced Kuehn and did not disappoint as Visnic yielded two hits without a run along with one walk and two strikeouts. Zebrack gave the Quakers a runner in scoring position in the fifth by smoking a double off the right field wall from a Visnic offering.
“Don’t you let much go in,” Wheeler yelled at Visnic after he yielded Zebrack’s double. “Find your pitch.”
The Owls had an opportunity to chase Penn’s lead in the top of the six as Matt Gotschall replaced Cuff. Cuff pitched five innings, allowing four hits, two runs (both earned), three walks, and five strikeouts. However,Gottschall had been relieved by Quaker lefty John Beasley after Gotschall yielded singles to Taylor Juran, who has hit safely in 15 of 16 games in 2012, and Matt Elko, and Gotschall loaded the bases by walking Jabir Kahn. Dunigan, seizing the opportunity to drive in Owls, grounded out to the second baseman.
Unlike the top of the sixth, the Owls drove in runners in the top of the seven to cut their defecit to 5-4, in which they faced three Penn relievers. Beasely threw two-thirds additionally, Stephen Selvestri could not record an out by allowing a two-RBI single to Juran, and Cody Thompson allowed a single to Reilly and walk to Elko to load the bases for Kahn.
Before Juran’s seventh-inning at-bat, Reilly told him, “All it takes is one bat.”
Khan had been the batter at the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, but he struck out on three pitches. The hosts extended their lead, 7-4, in the bottom of the seventh, with a two-run homerun by Branigan.

Penn held onto the lead for only half an inning before the homerun by Nikorak, which marked his first roundtripper of the season.

Penn(3-6,0-1 Big Five) had won the previous three meetings against the Owls(6-10, 1-1 Big Five). Also, the Quakers finished their 2011 home slate at Meiklejohn Stadium with nine victories against six defeats.
The Owls will have a day off to celebrate a rally that did not fall short before hosting St. Peters of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) at Skip Wilson Field on Friday March 16.

Scott Samuel David Weiss can be reached at scott.weiss@temple.edu.

Baseball: Owls get late rally, but Explorers hold on for win

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By Samuel Botwinick

The Temple News

What looked like it might be a blowout early on ended up being a close game, with the La Salle Explorers edging out the Owls in a 9-7 victory at Skip Wilson Field at Ambler Campus.

The Explorers’ early outburst came in the first and third innings, with junior shortstop Joe Bennie driving in two runs with an RBI double in the top of the first.

The top of the third proved to be an eventful inning for both Owls’ senior starting pitcher, Dan Moller and fellow freshman pitcher Adam Dian, who proceeded to walk several batters, including throwing a wild pitch that led to a run.

The Owls began to regain momentum at the top of the ninth, thanks to the bats of redshirt-senior third baseman Steve Nikorak, junior designated hitter Elijah Yarborough, senior second baseman Foster Dunigan and redshirt-junior first baseman Matt Elko. Elko came up with a clutch two-run single in the bottom of the seventh to bring the Owls within one run.

Another contributor for the Owls was freshman relief pitcher Eric Peterson, who was able to neutralize the bats of the Explorers. Peterson pitched a career-high six innings of one-run ball, giving up three hits, while notching a career-high of five strikeouts.  His only blemish was a solo shot yielded to Explorers’ sophomore center fielder George Smith Jr.

Peterson was confident in his “stuff” today and he was pleased with the way he pitched.

“I thought I threw pretty well today,” Peterson said. “I hit my spots. I was able to get out batters, so hopefully I’ll be able to gain confidence off that and move on to the next game, I guess.”

Reigning Atlantic Ten Conference Player of the Week, Nikorak, was the primary source of offense for the Owls, driving in two runs and collecting two doubles in the process. Nikorak contributed on defense as well, when he made a catch that prevented the Owls from giving up potential runs in the top of the seventh.

He explained what was going through his head when he attempted that catch.

“ Well, I was just trying to get over to that dug out and try to find the fence, and it worked out from there,” Nikorak said.

Coach Ryan Wheeler put the game in a nutshell.

“I thought it was sort of a tale of two games,” Wheeler said.

The Owls look to rebound today as they travel to Penn to take on the Quakers.

Samuel Botwinick can be reached at samuel.botwinick@temple.edu.

March Madness: Men’s basketball earns No. 5 seed

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The Owls were selected as the No. 5 seed in the Midwest bracket and will play the winner of 12 seeds California and South Florida on Friday in Nashville, Tenn for the second round of the NCAA tournament.

North Carolina is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest and will play the winner of a first round game between 16 seeds Lamar and Vermont. The No. 2 seeded Kansas Jayhawks will face No. 15 Detroit.

The following matchups round out the Midwest bracket: No. 8 vs. No. 9 Alabama, No. 4 Michigan vs. No. 13 Ohio, No. 7 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 10 Purdue, No. 3 Georgetown vs. No. 14 Belmont and No. 6 San Diego State vs. No. 11 N.C. State.

The other No. 1 seeds in the tournament are Kentucky, Michigan St. and Syracuse.

Three other Atlantic Ten Conference teams earned a spot in the “Big Dance” including No. 9 seed St. Louis, No. 10 seed Xavier and the A-10 tournament champion No. 14 St. Bonaventure.

Drexel was one of the teams left out of the tournament along with Miami, Northwestern, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, Nevada and Washington.

No. 24 Temple loses to UMass, 77-71

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.–The Owls entered the Atlantic Ten Conference Tournament with the top seed and a No. 24 ranking, but the Massachusetts Minutemen played disruptive basketball as the eight-seeded underdogs.

The Minutemen (22-10, 10-7 A-10) trailed by five points at half, 36-31,  but came out in the second half on a 15-0 run in the first five minutes to take a 46-36 lead. Sophomore guard Jesse Morgan scored seven of those points during that stretch and finished with game-high 21 points.

The Owls’ loss marked just the second time in 20 games this season they lost after holding a lead at halftime.

Temple remained close down the stretch and reclaimed a lead with just under nine minutes remaining after redshirt-freshman forward  Anthony Lee knocked down two free throws to give the Owls a 58-57 advantage. Lee ended up with eight points, four rebounds and three blocks in the game.

Senior guard Juan Fernandez made a three-pointer to extend the Owls lead to four points–their largest lead of the half–after Lee blocked a shot attempt by UMass’ junior forward Terrell Vinson on the other end.

With five minutes remaining, UMass regained the lead at 65-64 and held on to win its first A-10 Tournament quarterfinal game since 2001.

Listen to post-game audio from UMass players, sophomore guard Chaz Williams, Morgan, redshirt-senior Sean Carter and coach Derek Kellogg, and Temple players, redshirt-senior guard Ramone Moore, Fernandez and coach Fran Dunphy.

Williams, Morgan, Carter, Kellogg

Moore, Fernandez, Dunphy

Check back with The Temple News later for a full game recap.

Owls lead by five points at half against UMass in A-10 quarterfinals

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TTN ABI REIMOLD

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.–The men’s basketball team is up five points, 36-31, to the eight-seeded Massachusetts Minutemen at halftime of the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Ten Conference Tournament.

Junior guard Khalif Wyatt started the game on the bench for the Owls, as redshirt-junior T.J. DiLeo spelled the Norristown High School product in the lineup.  Wyatt saw action with less than 10 minutes remaining in the first half and scored a game-high eight points off the bench.

No. 24 Temple is also led by multiple starters who have provided at the half, as the team shot 46.4 percent from the floor. Senior guard Juan Fernandez and junior forward Rhalif Hollis-Jefferson each scored six points and redshirt-senior guard Ramone Moore and graduate center Micheal Eric each added five points.

The two teams last met on Feb. 29 at the Liacouras Center, where the No. 23 Owls defeated the Minutemen in overtime, 90-88.

The Minutemen shot 37.5 percent as a team and are led offensively by redshirt-sophomore guard Chaz Williams and bench player redshirt-freshman forward Maxie Esho who each have seven points.  Williams scored a team-high 26 points last time the Minutemen played the Owls.

Check back on www.temple-news.com for post-game coverage.

Shey Peddy named A-10 POY and Defensive POY

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Senior guard Shey Peddy has been named the Atlatntic Ten Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the year, becoming the first player to win both awards since Temple’s own Candace Dupree did so in 2005 and 2006.

Peddy finished second in the conference with 17 points per game, second in steals with 3.1 per game, fifth in assist-to-turnover ration with 1.6, and third with 60 three-pointers.

Peddy’s numbers spiked during conference play as she helped lead the Owls to a 13-1 record in the A-10, good enough for the tournament’s second seed. She led the A-10conference season with 18.6 points per game and was first in assist-to-turnover ratio with2.5, second in steals with 3.1 per game, and sixth in assists with 3.8 per game.

Peddy beat out Dayton’s Justine Raterman (14.7 points per game), both of whom alsoreceived A-10 All-Conference first team honors. Richmond’s Abby Oliver and St.Bonaventure’s Jessica Jenkins and Megan Van Tatenhove round out the first team.

A four-time A-10 Player of the Week this season, Peddy also won the United States Basketball Writers Association’s National Player of the Week. She was also a candidate for the preseason Naismith Award watch, for the nation’s 35 best players.

She wasn’t the only Owl to receive conference honors. Senior guard Kristen McCarthy was named to A-10 Second Team for the second consecutive year. She was named to thefirst team in her sophomore year and the All-Rookie Team in 2008-09.

Peddy and McCarthy lead the Owls to action in the A-10 Conference Tournament, hosted by St. Joseph’s at Michael J. Hagan ’85 Arena, on Saturday in the second round after receiving a first-round bye. They face the winner of the Duquesne vs. George Washington game. Tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m.

-Jake Adams

Xavier/UMass basketball matchups

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Women’s basketball vs. Massachusetts: 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Liacouras Center

Entering tonight’s game with an eight-game winning, the Owls (15-8, 8-1 A-10) will face a Massachusetts team that is 6-18 overall and 1-8 in the conference. The game is designated as a Play 4Kay game, which raises awareness for breast cancer in memory of the late North Carolina State coach Kay Yow.

TTN KATE McCANN Senior guard Shey Peddy.

The overall series belongs to the Owls as they have won 29 out of 48 meetings, while winning 10 of the last 11 games.

The Owls’ offense has improved as of late and it’s being led by senior guard Shey Peddy, who averages 16.7 points per game. In Temple’s latest victory against Saint Louis (8-16, 2-7 A-10), 65-50, on Wednesday, senior guard BJ Williams led the Owls on the road scoring a season-high 21 points.

In the same contest against the Billikens, freshman guard Rateska Brown scored a career-high 12 points and junior forward Victoria Macaulay recorded a double-double of 10 points and a career-tying 13 rebounds. Peddy had nine points in the game and added a game-high four steals.

The Owls are ranked 43rd in the RPI of 342 teams.

Massachusetts’ junior forward Shakia Robinson leads the Minutewomen in scoring this season with 12.4 points per game. Junior center Jasmine Watson, who stands at 6 feet 3 inches, owns an average of 12 points and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds per game.

The Minutewomen enter tonight’s game with a seven-game losing streak.

Men’s basketball vs. Xavier: 9 p.m. Saturday at Liacouras Center. ESPN2.

The nightcap against the Xavier Musketeers will decide whether Temple will share its first-place standing with the visitors. The Musketeers (16-8, 7-3 A-10) enter the game having won seven of their last 10 games, including a close loss to the Memphis Tigers, 72-68, last Saturday.

TTN LESLIE FRAZIER Senior Guard Ramone Moore.

Tonight’s game will be a white-out, as fans will receive white T-shirts to wear on a first-come, first-serve basis before the game. The overall series between the two teams is led by the Owls, 12-10, with Xavier winning the last meeting 88-77 at Cincinnati on Jan. 22, 2011.

The Owls (18-5, 7-2 A-10) are led by senior guard Ramone Moore who leads all scorers in the conference with 18.3 points per game. Moore has scored in double figures in all but one game this season. The Owls own a .401 three-point percentage, which is second in the conference, behind La Salle.

Xavier’s senior guard Tu Holloway leads the team in scoring with 16.3 points and 5.8 assists per game. The team is first in the conference in overall field-goal percentage defense (.391) and second in three-point field goal percentage defense (.302).

Women’s basketball beats St. Joe’s, 80-70

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The Owls (13-8, 6-1 Atlantic Ten Conference) defeated St. Joseph’s 80-70, as three Temple players scored at least 20 points. The Hawks (14-7, 4-3 A-10) hosted the Owls at the Hagan Arena, which is also the arena for the  A-10 Tournment held on March 2-5.

Senior guards Shey Peddy and Kristen McCarthy scored 26 and 21 points, respectively, while junior center Victoria Macaulay added a career-high 21 points. The trio of scorers marked the first time in program history that three players scored 20 or more points in a single game since 1989.

 In addition, senior guard BJ Williams had nine assists for the Owls. The Maryland native reached a milestone 100 assists for the season, which is a career-high for her during a single season.

Women’s basketball defeats Charlotte, 65-55

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Senior guards Kristen McCarthy and Shey Peddy carried the Owls on their backs Sunday afternoon at the Liacouras Center to give the women’s basketball team their fifth straight win, defeating Charlotte 65-55.

The senior duo scored 22 of the Owls first 24 points to push the team out to a 17-point lead early in the first half and never looked back. McCarthy finished with a game-high 23 and Peddy with 22.

McCarthy also collected a game-high ten rebounds, earning her fourth double-double of the year. She also led the team with four steals in 38 minutes of action for the starting forward.

Peddy added to her overall impressive statistics by dishing out six assists, grabbing seven rebounds, and connecting on four shots from beyond the arc.

The key stat of the game was the turnover battle as the Owls forced 20 while only committing 10 themselves. They also outscored the 49ers 20-6 in points off turnovers. Temple didn’t get any points off the bench as the reserves missed on all four field goal attempts but it didn’t matter as Peddy and McCarthy were already in double figures in scoring in the first ten minutes.

The Owls jumped out to a 24-7 lead thanks to some hot shooting but the 49ers were able to close the defecit to seven by the half. Peddy and McCarthy finished the half scoring 38 of the team’s 41 points combined. Peddy hit seven of eight from the field in the first half.

Both teams hot shooting cooled off in the second half with Temple and Charlotte shooting 29 and 23 percent, respectively. Charlotte did cut the lead down to four with a three-pointer to start the half but Temple countered with an 11-0 run to stretch it back out to 15, 52-37. The 49ers made a small counter themselves outscoring the Owls 8-2 over the next few minutes to bring it to 54-45 around the halfway mark of the half. Two lay-ups gave the Owls a 13-point lead but both teams failed to score for the next several minutes. An 8-0 run by Charlotte made it 60-53 with three and a half minutes to go but it wouldn’t get any closer than that.

The win pushed Temple to 12-8 overall and 5-1 in conference play. That puts them in third place in the Atlantic 10 conference behind Dayton and St. Bonaventure. The Owls will play inner-city rival St. Josephs next on Wednesday, February 1.

-Brandon Stoneburg