WASHINGTON - Is it ever too early to beat a ranked opponent, especially on the road?

You can't say Temple didn't have the opening.

The Owls, after trailing by a dozen early in the second half, led No. 19 Georgetown by three with 2 minutes, 21 seconds left yesterday afternoon at the Verizon Center, part of ESPN's 24-hour hoops marathon.

They were still up one with 24.3 seconds showing, when Ramone Moore went to the foul line to shoot a one-and-one. He never earned the second opportunity. Which gave the Hoyas a final one. They converted, on a driving layup from the right elbow at 6.5 seconds by sophomore center Greg Monroe, the Big East Rookie of the Year, who managed to maneuver around and over Lavoy Allen.

Following a timeout, Luis Guzman took the ensuing inbounds pass the length of the court. But his leaner in traffic was basically caught, not long after it left his hand, by Monroe. Jump ball, with Georgetown getting the ball on the alternate possession. Even though Monroe missed two free throws at 0.3, the Hoyas escaped with their Top 25 standing intact, 46-45.

"We definitely let this one get away," said Allen, who finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds, while helping to hold Monroe to 11 and 9, respectively. "It would have been a great win on our resume at the end of the year.

"We've got to move on."

It's the first time since Dec. 30, 1995, that Temple failed to win when it held the other guys under 50 points. That's a string of 68 consecutive victories. For trivia fans, the opponent 14 years ago was Oklahoma State, and the final was 49-41.

"It just didn't happen for us there," said coach Fran Dunphy, whose team opened with a 20-point win at Delaware on Saturday. The Owls figure to get another test when Siena visits the Liacouras Center on Saturday.

The Owls missed two other freebies in the closing 3:01, including another the front end of a one-and-one (by Allen). They also had a turnover on a foul while setting a high screen (charged to Craig Williams).

"We didn't close it out like we needed to," Dunphy said. "We [made mistakes], at critical times. We can't do that, in this situation, against a good basketball team. We have to take care of details."

For the longest while, it didn't look as if it would come down to the end. The Owls had 13 points after 20 minutes. Not that Georgetown was doing much better. Still, it took the Owls 16 minutes to make a field goal from outside a few feet of the basket.

Then, they went on a 19-4 spurt in a span of a little more than 6 minutes in the second half, during which only the last of their eight buckets (which included three old-fashioned three-point plays) was anything but a drive or dunk.

The Owls went up by 39-33 with a little less than 7 minutes left. G-town responded with nine straight. Temple got the next six, to make it 45-42. At 2:07, Chris Wright (15 points) sank a pair of freebies for the Hoyas. The next five possessions didn't change anything except the urgency. Monroe made sure the sixth changed everything. For keeps.

"Monroe's a great player," Dunphy said. "That's what great players do. They arrive. Overall, I thought Lavoy was terrific."

"I was playing him to his left hand," Allen explained. "A little too much. He read that and went to his right."

Nevertheless, Guzman at least got a last look.

"[Dunphy] told me to push the ball, go to the basket," he said. "They were overplaying Ryan [Brooks]. I thought I had a chance. The guy was there before I got there."

Dunphy added: "Six-point-five is a lot of time. It could be five dribbles within you. You hope to draw two people and get a kick [out]. I think he just took it in a little too deep."

Allen, who, like Brooks, played all 40 minutes, shot 5-for-10 from the floor, but 2-for-5 at the line. Eight of his 14 boards came on the offensive end. Brooks, coming off a career-high 23-point effort, scored six on 2-for-14 shooting, 1-for-9 from the arc. Some of the looks were decent. Ramone Moore, who hasn't played much in 2 years, went 4-for-9 in 25 minutes off the bench. Starting point guard Juan Fernandez picked up his third foul just after halftime and didn't return. Guzman's 36 minutes tied a career best. Freshman forward Rahlir Jefferson (Chester High) provided a solid 12 minutes, but did miss two of four foul shots.

The Owls, who had six fewer turnovers (10) than Georgetown, finished with three more field goals (18) on 14 more attempts. They went 3-for-23 from deep, to Georgetown's 3-for-18. A highlight reel, it wasn't. Even counting Monroe's last two misses, the Hoyas converted 13 of 19 at the line, to Temple's 6-for-13. It makes a difference.

Only five players scored for Georgetown, which has no seniors. And it got only two points from the bench.

"It's early in the year," Hoyas coach John Thompson III said. "We were fortunate that Greg finished the [decisive] play.

"Ugly or not, to make the plays . . . to win that game, that's a good feeling."

As is always the case, that's one way of looking at it. *