The men’s basketball team beat Western Michigan tonight, 76-70.
Four players – senior guard Ryan Brooks, junior forwards Lavoy Allen and Craig Williams and sophomore point guard Juan Fernandez – scored in double figures for the Owls (5-2). Brooks led the way with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Williams connected on 4-of-7 3-point attempts.
“Craig williams stepped up and hit some big shots down the stretch,” Brooks said.
The Broncos (2-3) were led by senior guard David Kool, who scored 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field and hit all seven of his free throws.
“He is a tremendous shooter,” Brooks said. “You can’t take him for granted. He was ready to play, and I just did not do a good job on him early in the game.”
Temple trailed 38-37 at the half after allowing Western Michigan to shoot 51.9 percent.
“I like to think we are a pretty good defensive basketball team, but I do not think you would have said that if you watched us in the first half,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “We did come around in the second half. In the second half we defended better. We found Kool a little bit more, and we did not foul him as much…and then our offense just came around. We started making shots.”
The Owls shot 44.1 percent in the second half and 40.8 percent overall, a definite improvement from the St. John’s game Saturday.
Temple returns to the Liacouras Center Saturday at 4 p.m. to face National Invitational Tournament champion Penn State.
