Earlier this evening I went with a friend to the Temple - St. Joseph's men's college basketball game at the Palestra in University City. And what a great game it was!
But to put this game into context, we have to recall the previous Temple - St. Joe's meeting, in which St. Joe's won by one point at the last second, when Temple's Mark Tyndale missed a lay-up as the final buzzer sounded.
So tonight's rematch promised to be entertaining. But for most of the game, it didn't really seem like it would be. St. Joe's clearly appeared to be the quicker team, in addition to their bigger line-up as compared to Temple's. These advantages led, at one point, to a 16-point lead for the Hawks, and things were beginning to seem bleak for the Temple Owls.
But with about 5 or 6 minutes left in the game, the Owls began a slow, almost unremarkable comeback, gradually chipping away at the lead, while tightening up their defense. Eventually one began to realize that Temple was really fighting as if their backs were up against the wall. The wake-up call really sounded when Tyndale took the ball the length of the court, avoiding Hawk defenders along the way, en route to a dunk right in front of the Temple student section; the crowd went wild and that was the exclamation mark that announced that this game was gonna come down to the wire just like the previous meeting between the two clubs.
The last possession of the game was classic. Temple was up 57 to St. Joe's 56, and St. Joe's had the ball for the final 20 seconds of the game. In the season's earlier contest, St. Joe's best player hit a 3-pointer near the end of the game to seal it for the Hawks. So the question tonight was whether history was gonna repeat itself or whether the Owls could stage a game-winning defensive stand. Fortunately for this Temple fan, it was the latter. The Owls stifled the Hawks' last three consecutive shot attempts, and pulled out the dramatic victory.
And so went Temple's sweet redemption of their earlier loss to St. Joe's. And with that, Temple now claims second place in the Atlantic-10 Conference. Nice!
Word up to Temple starting point guard Luis Guzman for hooking us up with comp tickets.
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2 comments:
If you were a true Temple fan, you would have said that Tyndale's layup attempt was stopped by a controversial block and probable goal tend.
Yo Mike, you're totally right. I was a bit brief in my game recap. But believe me, man, I am definitely a true fan. Go Temple in the A-10 tourney!
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