Author Archives: connorshowalter

Basketball plays non-conference on Sat. (MBB: vs. MD) (WBB: vs. Penn)

Posted on by

Temple basketball will battle non-conference opponents on Saturday.

The men’s basketball team will travel to the Palestra to play host to the Maryland Terrapins (12-5) for the final non-conference game of the season at 11 a.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Coach Fran Dunphy holds a 164-53 (.756) career record on the Pennsylvania Quakers’ home floor. The Owls (12-5) will be looking to improve their non-conference record to 10-3 and their current win streak to two games after defeating La Salle on Wednesday.

In the matchup with the Atlantic Coast Conference opponent, the Owls average about five more points per game than the visiting Terrapins (74.4-69.2) and both teams hold their opponents to under 50 percent field goal percentage defensively (TU opponents’ .448, MD opponents’ .430). The Owls have the advantage in the all-time series, 5-4, while taking the last two against the Terrapins (most recently, 12/5/10, 64-61).

The women’s basketball team will host Big 5 rival Penn Quakers (7-7) at McGonigle Hall at 3 p.m.

The Owls (9-8) will be looking for their first Big 5 win of the season as they previously lost to Villanova (4-0 Big 5) on Dec. 22, who have claimed the title this year.

Temple is on a two-game winning streak coming off a win against Duquesne last Wednesday. The Owls hold a 47-15 series advantage against the Quakers, taking the last seven games against the city rival.

Women’s basketball wins first A-10 game on buzzer beater

Posted on by

Senior guard Kristen McCarthy hit a jumper with 0.2 seconds left in regulation to give the Owls (7-7, 1-0 Atlantic Ten Conferenc) a road win, 56-55,  against Richmond in their Atlantic Ten Conference opener. The Owls trailed by 14 points in the first half, but rallied back with a 13-0 run in the second half to put themselves in position for the buzzer beater.  

McCarthy led all Temple scorers with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Senior guard Shey Peddy and junior forward Brittany Lewis both added 12 points, while junior forward Victoria Macaulay had a career-high 13 rebounds.

Pierce declares eligibility for NFL Draft

Posted on by

Junior All-American running back Bernard Pierce has decided officially enter the National Football League Draft, according to a press release. The NFL will take place on April 26-28 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

The Glen Mills School product will forego his senior season with the Temple Owls as well his degree in communications. The release states that Pierce intends to return to Temple to complete his degree.

Pierce became Temple’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns (53), total touchdowns (54), and points scored (324). He set season records for rushing touchdowns (27), total touchdowns (27), points scored (162), and 100-yard rushing games (nine), while setting game records for rushing touchdowns in a game (five) and points scored (30) both coming in the win against Maryland this past season.

Marty Magid of MRM Sports in Conshohocken, Pa. is Pierce’s agent.

Men’s basketball injury updates: Randall and Eric

Posted on by

“We’re undersized and undergirthed (sp),” coach Fran Dunphy said after the Owls’ win against Buffalo on Wednesday. “Is that a word, ‘girthed?’ But that’s the way it is. We’re going to have to battle like crazy and figure out ways to win games.”

Dunphy has played a guard-heavy lineup without both senior forward Scootie Randall and redshirt-senior center Micheal Eric due to injuries.

Eric, who sat out the Owls’ 10 remaining games last season, reinjured his right knee during a practice on Nov. 25. The Nigerian native was fourth on the team in scoring (10.5 points per game) and led the Atlantic Ten Conference in rebounding (11.3 per game) after playing four games this year.

“[Eric] feels pretty good,” Dunphy said. “He’s been jogging around a little bit, doing some light running, not scrimmaging anyone else. In shooting drills and those kinds of things he looks good. It’s just a matter of hopefully another couple of weeks, but then when that couple of weeks hits, then how ready is he going to be right away. So it’s going to take some time. It will be on Mike’s schedule and we’ll just play along with it.”

Randall has yet to play this season as he continues to recover from off-season surgery on his knee. The six-foot-six-inch forward was named the Atlantic Ten Conference and Big 5 Most Improved Player and received A-10 Honorable Mention honors last season after averaging 10.7 point and 4.7 rebounds per game.

“[Randall] just doesn’t feel comfortable enough to go and it’s going to be his decision alone,” Dunphy said. “As long as he’s not comfortable then he’s not going to play. Although he’s doing a good job in practice. It’s just his level of comfort, it’s not where it needs to be.”

“If he doesn’t play all year long, then he gets the extra year,” Dunphy said. “If he says at somepoint, ‘I’m ready to go and I want to play,’ then that’s what it will be. But it will be his decision.”

Deputy athletic director resigns

Posted on by

The current deputy athletic director has resigned from his position effective Jan. 23, 2012, according to an announcement by Director of Athletics Bill Bradshaw today.

Eric Roedl, who began his tenure in Temple’s athletic department in the fall of 2003 as associate athletic director finance and administration, will become the executive senior associate athletic director at the University of Oregon.

Roedl’s responsibilities at Temple include all financial matters for the 24 intercollegiate sports with a budget that exceeds $30 million. The Villanova University graduate (’97) balanced athletic department budgets, accumulated $2 million in reserve funds for facility projects and other strategic initiatives, and chaired an athletics strategic planning committee and created a plan which identified and prioritized $100 million in athletics facility improvements, add assisted in the development of a scholarship equivalency structure and roster management plan to improve gender equity.

All information courtesy Temple Athletics Communications.

Eric reinjures knee in practice-UPDATE

Posted on by

Graduate center Micheal Eric reinjured his right patella and will be out for six weeks.

Eric reinjured his right knee during the men’s basketball team’s practice last Friday. Eric will sit out the Owls’ (3-1) away game today at 2 p.m. against Bowling Green.

It is the same injury that kept Eric from competing in the team’s remaining 10 games last season.

This season Eric ranks fourth on the team in scoring (10.5 ppg.) and leads the Atlantic Ten Conference in rebounding (11.3 per game).

Eric reinjures knee in practice, will miss today’s game

Posted on by

Graduate center Micheal Eric reinjured his right patella during the men’s basketball team’s practice last Friday. Eric will sit out the Owls’ (3-1) away game today at 2 p.m. against Bowling Green.

It is the same injury that kept Eric from competing in the team’s remaining 10 games last season.

This season Eric ranks fourth on the team in scoring (10.5 ppg.) and leads the Atlantic Ten Conference in rebounding (11.3 per game).

Men’s basketball signs three recruits

Posted on by

Coach Fran Dunphy announced today that during the early signing period the men’s basketball team had three high school seniors ink National Letters of Intent.

The future class of 2016 will be 6 foot-6-inch guard/forward Quenton DeCosey (St. Joseph-Metuchen / N.J.), 6 foot-7-inch forward Daniel Dingle (St. Raymond’s / N.Y.), and 6 foot-10-inch center Devontae Watson (Lincoln Park / Pa.)

The recruits each averaged double-double performances in their junior campaigns, as DeCosey recorded 23.4 points and 11.3 rebounds, Dingle posted 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Watson averaged 16 points, 18 rebounds and 12 blocked shots per game.

Men’s soccer falls in A-10 quarter-finals

Posted on by

The Owls (9-10-0, 5-4 A-10) fell to city-rival, the La Salle Explorers, 2-0, in a quarter-final matchup at the Atlantic Ten Conference Tournament on Thursday.

The men’s soccer team made its third appearance in the A-10 playoffs in four years after qualifying as the fourth seed in the tournament and traveling to Saint Louis to take on fifth-seeded La Salle (7-8-4, 4-2-3 A-10). The game was scoreless for the first 66 minutes, but the Explorers scored two unanswered goals despite being outshot by the Owls 25-14 in the game.

La Salle’s sophomore midfielder Jason Plumhoff struck first for the Explorers on an awarded penalty kick in the 67th minute. Later in the 86th minute, freshman forward Rob Friskey added a goal for the Explorers to put the game out of reach. 

The Explorers will face second-seeded George Washington in the semi-finals on Friday.

Settles selected for national senior game

Posted on by

Senior forward Bridget Settles of the field hockey team was recently selected to compete in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Senior Game on Nov. 19 at the University of Louisville. The team’s co-captain was chosen to play with 38 other top Division I players and is the sixth player from Temple to do so in five years.

Settles is one of two Atlantic Ten Conference players selected for team along with Massachusetts senior goalie Alesha Widdall. The national senior team will face off against the U.S. Women’s National Team and each other.

The Haddon Township, N.J. native has scored 18 goals this season, which ranks her at 18th nationally in goals scored per game with .90 goals.

The third-seeded Owls will play second-seeded UMass at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4 at Saint Joseph’s.