Posted: Friday, March 13, 2009, 9:08 PM | 7 comments |
 

Temple knocks off Xavier, heads to A-10 final
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ATLANTIC CITY – Temple’s Dionte Christmas scored 10 of his team’s final 11 points to lead the Owls to a 55-53 upset win over top-seeded Xavier in a semifinal game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

With the Owls trailing by 47-44, Christmas made a jumper a foul shot and a three-pointer during a 7-0 run that gave the Owls a 51-47 lead with 1 minute, 50 seconds remaining.

After two free throws by B.J. Raymond cut it to two, Christmas again drained a trey, this one from the left wing, for a 54-49 lead.

From there, the Owls closed it out and now will look for their second straight Atlantic 10 tournament title and the automatic NCAA Tournament game that comes with it. No team has repeated as the A-10 tourney champion since Temple did it in the 2000 and '01 seasons.

Temple awaits the winner of the Duquesne/Dayton game.

Christmas led the fourth-seeded Owls (21-11) with 20 points, while Lavoy Allen added 10 points and 11 rebounds. Derrick Brown led the 19th-ranked Musketeers (25-7) with 19 points and Raymond added 18.

“Obviously Dionte hit some huge shots,” said Temple coach Fran Dunphy. “Everybody had to play well for us in order to win the game."

Christmas was 1-for-10 from the field and scored only seven points in the Owls' semifinal win over Saint Joseph's on Thursday.

Xavier will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Xavier: Sean Miller, B.J. Raymond and Derrick Brown 3/13/09
2009 Atlantic 10 Tournament Semifinals
Posted by Bob Cooney @ 9:08 PM  Permalink | 7 comments
7
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:57 PM, 03/13/2009
    Go Owls, win the tournament and move it on men!
    — petergou
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:09 AM, 03/14/2009
    With all the games on tv that no one in this area cares about, this game should have been on tv! The school is located in PHILADELPHIA!!!
    — scars73
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:00 AM, 03/14/2009
    a) the game was on tv since i watched it. b) the a10 is better than a mid-major. if you followed the sport you would know that.
    — bobbyd24
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:48 AM, 03/14/2009
    bobbyd24 - What channel was the game on? I could not find it. Also, does know if tonights game is on tv and what channel? I know the game starts at 6 pm. Thanks
    — brianb135
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:58 PM, 03/14/2009
    Last night's game was on CN8 Philly.. at least for me since I'm from outta town. Tonight's game is on ESPN2 & ESPN 360.com
    — mildthing
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:48 PM, 03/14/2009
    interestingly, by some definition, the a-10 is a mid-major. the mid majors are often times defined by the size of the athletic budget and the a-10 falls below the line. http://www.midmajority.com/
    — tg


7 comments
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