Category Archives: Sports

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.

Owls take care of Fordham, 78-60

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The men’s basketball team improved its Atlantic Ten Conference record to 5-2 on Wednesday night with a 78-60 victory against Fordham.

Redshirt-senior guard Ramone Moore and junior guard Khalif Wyatt led the scoring for the Owls, with 25 and 24 points, respectively.

Wyatt led the charge early in the first half, scoring the team’s first 10 points and 16 overall. Moore took over in the second half with 20 points and finished the game with a career-high six three-pointers.

Temple (16-5) has now won four conference games in a row, and the past three by a combined margin of 58.

Check back with The Temple News later for full game coverage.

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

 

Owls pick up A-10 win against Charlotte

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The men’s basketball team improved its Atlantic Ten Conference record to 3-2 with a 79-57 win against Charlotte Wednesday night.

Redshirt-senior guard Ramone Moore led all scorers with 18 points in 30 minutes. Sophomore guard Aaron Brown scored 16 points, junior guard Khalif Wyatt scored 12 points and added six assists and five steals and senior guard Juan Fernandez scored 10 points and had six assists.

Graduate center Micheal Eric scored six points and grabbed nine rebounds in 17 minutes, the most significant playing time he’s received since returning from an injured kneecap that kept him out of 13 games.

The Owls jumped out to a 17-1 lead early and never relinquished it. There has been four combined lead changes in Temple’s last three wins.

 

Offensive coordinator leaves for Auburn

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Temple offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler has left the school to take the same job at Auburn.

“I am very happy for Scot and his family,” coach Steve Addazio said in a statement. “This is a great opportunity for him and his career. We are very grateful for his contributions to Temple, and we certainly understand that when our great coaches have opportunities, it’s a compliment to our program. We wish Scot nothing but the best. He will always have a special place here at Temple.”

Loeffler returns to the Southeastern Conference after a one-year hiatus. He coach at Florida for two seasons before joining Addazio in his decision to come to Temple.

Loeffler guided the Owls to their first bowl win in 32 years in his only season with the team.

 

Addazio releases statement on Paterno

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Temple football coach Steve Addazio is one of the millions of people across America who was affected by the passing of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.

Mr. Paterno died of cancer Sunday morning at the age of 85. He has more wins than any other coach in the history of college football and went a perfect 28-0 against Temple during his 46-year tenure as Penn State’s coach.

Addazio had this to say about Paterno’s legacy:

“I am very sad to hear the news of Joe Paterno’s passing. He was someone that I had a great deal of respect for, both growing up as a young man and as a football coach. He did so much for college football, athletics as a whole, and education.  The positive influence he had over so many people and what he’s done for collegiate football and athletics will never be duplicated. He will be greatly missed. Our deepest sympathies go out to the entire Paterno family and the Penn State community.”

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

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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

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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

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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.

Owls play host to No. 3/5 Duke

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Temple (9-3) will play in arguably its most anticipated regular season game of the season tonight as the Owls host Duke (12-1) at  7 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia.

The game, which will broadcast nationally on ESPN 2, is a part two of the schools’ home and home agreement. The Owls lost to the Blue Devils, 78-61, last year at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Blue Devils’ then senior Kyle Singler led all scorers with 28 points, while then senior forward Lavoy Allen led the Owls with a double double.

Both Singler and Allen have now moved on, making it so that this year’s matchup promises to feature some new faces.

For Duke, the USA Today third-ranked and Associated Press fifth-ranked Blue Devils are led in scoring by freshman guard Austin Rivers, who averages more than 15 points per game. Duke also features a plethora of lengthy forwards, including a pair of 6’10 brothers named Plumlee, junior Mason and senior Miles.

Temple counters with its trio of high-scoring guards and undersized forwards. The Owls senior guards Juan Fernandez (13.3 ppg) and Ramone Moore (17.4 ppg), and junior guard Khalif Wyatt (14.2 ppg) all average more than 10 points per game, but injuries have cost the Owls in the frontcourt.

Graduate center Micheal Eric and senior forward Scootie Randall have both missed significant time due to injury this season and will not play tonight. Randall is expected to redshirt this season as he has struggled to recover from offseason surgery in June to repair torn meniscus cartilage in his knee. Eric has missed Temple’s last eight games after re-injuring the same kneecap that kept him out of his last 10 games last year.

Both Eric and Randall were also injured for Temple’s game last year against Duke.

In Eric and Randall’s absence, the Owls are left with two inexperienced forwards in the frontcourt. Redshirt-freshman Anthony Lee will start in only the 13th game of his career alongside junior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, who is a natural three-guard forced to play power forward.

The 6’9 Lee and 6’6 Hollis-Jefferson will have their hands full trying to defend the bigger Plumlee brothers, along with Blue Devils junior forward Ryan Kelly, who is six foot, eleven inches and weighs 230 pounds.

The Blue Devils high-scoring offense is built around the three-point shot. Duke has the sixth-best three point percentage in the country and has hit 90 threes in 13 games so far this season. Temple counters with the 4th-best defense in the country defending the three, holding opponents to a three-point percentage of just 25.6 percent.

Instead of trying to win the game in the paint, the Owls will try to rely on their talented trio of guards and their excellent perimeter defense.

This is a formula that has proven to give Duke some trouble this season. In the Blue Devils’ season opener against Belmont, the Bruins’ trio of experienced guards all shot better than 50 percent and scored more than 10 points as Belmont took Duke to the buzzer in a 77-76 loss.

If Temple can shoot the ball better than their 37.8 average in their past two games and defend the three as well as they have all season, then its experienced club could pull off the upset against the young Duke squad that features only one senior.

Temple is no stranger to upsetting elite programs of late, either. In the past three seasons, the Owls have defeated a program ranked in the Top-10 in the country.

Tonight, in front of a national audience and a home crowd, the Owls will try to make it four in a row.