Temple uses defense, patience to down St. Bonaventure

ATLANTIC CITY - Sometimes the most lasting lessons are the ones most harshly learned.

On Jan. 2, the 18th-ranked Temple Owls hosted top-ranked Kansas. The Jayhawks blew the Owls out of the Liacouras Center, 84-52.

"We got humbled by a really good basketball team that played very well that night," Temple coach Fran Dunphy recalled yesterday afternoon after the Owls dominated St. Bonaventure, 69-51, in an Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinal in Boardwalk Hall.

"But [the loss to Kansas] did teach us a great lesson. You'd like to learn lessons after wins rather than losses, but I think it really helped us because we played arguably one of the best teams in the country, if not the best. We got it handed to us a little bit. I thought the humility that we learned was really helpful."

What Dunphy's group of honest workmen discovered is that maybe they can't hope to directly confront some of the elite national powers, whose rosters are liberally stocked with former high school All-Americas. But the Owls could narrow the talent gap by minimizing mistakes, playing smart and always remembering that, like the tortoise in Aesop's Fables, the race does not always go to the swift.

In hammering the eighth-seeded Bonnies (15-16) for its eighth consecutive victory, Temple, the A-10's regular-season champion, demonstrated that it will be a handful for any team it faces. Next up to have the misfortune of getting down in the trenches with the Owls (27-5) is fifth-seeded Rhode Island (23-8), which advanced to today's semifinal by tuning up Saint Louis, 63-47, in another defense-dominated contest.

The Rams are 0-2 against Temple this season, losing, 68-64, in overtime on Jan. 10 and 78-56 at the Liacouras Center on Feb. 13. Whatever else happens today, it is safe to assume that the Owls likely won't give up a bundle of points, make silly mistakes or forget who and what they are.

"I give all the credit to Temple," Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt said after his team, which had won five of six entering the game, fell behind early and never was a factor. "They're a terrific defensive team, a very physical team. They run a great halfcourt offense, where they take care of the ball and get great shots."

If it's degree-of-difficulty dunks, rainbow jumpers and whirling-dervish drives you want, Temple is probably not your cup of tea. But the beauty of basketball is open to interpretation, and Dunphy thought the no-frills Owls looked fine after they committed only seven turnovers, got assists on 18 of their 30 made baskets and owned the backboards, 39-28.

Juan Fernandez, the sophomore guard from Argentina, scored a game-high 17 points, hitting four of five shots from beyond the arc, in addition to dishing out seven assists with no turnovers. Junior power forward Lavoy Allen continued to dominate the interior with 14 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. He also combined with 6-11 center Micheal Eric to limit the Bonnies' big gun, Andrew Nicholson, to 13 points on 5-for-18 shooting.

It's amazing what a growing sense of confidence, coupled with the bitter memory of a past comeuppance, can do to a team that appears to be peaking at just the right time.

"The game with Kansas taught us to stay humble and not worry about our ranking in the top 25 or anything like that," said Allen, whose progression as an all-purpose star is becoming more evident with each outing. "We just go out and play our best and don't listen to what other people say about us."

Of course, St. Bonaventure is not Kansas. But even the mighty Jayhawks might have been hard-pressed to deal with the sort of start Temple got off to yesterday, an exhibition of efficiency in which the Owls seized a 24-8 lead on Allen's lay-in from Fernandez with 11 minutes, 4 seconds remaining in the first half.

The Bonnies did scrap back to within 28-21, but the rally fizzled, and the Owls refurbished their lead to 39-27 by intermission, a spread grew to as many as 22 points on several occasions.

Interestingly, Temple appeared to spend much of the second half working on specific goals, with the Bonnies nearly an afterthought. Three of the Owls' turnovers came on shot-clock violations, which were offset by high-percentage shots taken and made just before the 35-second clock expired.

Prudent clock management, Fort Knox-style ball protection, astute shot selection and, of course, tenacious defense are the lessons Dunphy preaches to a group of players who clearly have bought in.

"Once we got a nice lead, we wanted to take care of the ball, not throw it away, and get good shots," Dunphy said. "There were a couple of end-of-shot-clocks that we did finish, a couple of others where we were a tad late. I always tell our guys, 'Don't force anything. If the clock runs out and the whistle blows, we can set up our defense.' What I don't want is somebody throwing up something less than stellar and [the other team] running down and getting easy shots."

It didn't happen yesterday, and isn't likely to happen often in any other game the disciplined Owls are apt to play the rest of the way.

Some teams have more talent than Temple. Right now, it's difficult to imagine any with more patience.