Owls beat Richmond, win third straight A-10 title game

ATLANTIC CITY - After blowing past its first two opponents in the Atlantic Ten Tournament at Boardwalk Hall, the Temple basketball team had to withstand a serious challenge from Richmond today in the championship game.

Top-seeded Temple, which is ranked No. 17 in the nation, took a 56-52 victory to become only the second A-10 squad to win three straight conference tournaments. Massachusetts won five in a row from 1992 to 1996. With their ninth championship overall, the Owls added to their league record. And with 52 A-10 tournament wins, and 16 appearances in the title game, Temple is also tops in those categories.

As a result of the win, Temple (29-5) gets the A-10's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Richmond (26-8), which was seeded third, is expected to receive an at-large bid to the Field of 65.

The Owls will go into the NCAA's with 10 straight wins.

"Our guys stepped up and made foul shots at the end," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "They [Richmond] missed a few shots at the end that they usually make."

During the regular season, Richmond had handed the visiting Owls a 71-54 thrashing that was delivered during an eight-game winning streak the Spiders put together during late January and early February.

Temple guard Juan Fernandez did not suit up when Richmond and Temple met for the only time during the regular season. He was still feeling the effects from a blow to the head he sustained a couple of weeks earlier in a game at Fordham.

Yesterday, Fernandez had a game-high 11 points during the first 20 minutes to help Temple to a 29-25 advantage at the break. He finished 18 before being named the tournament's most outstanding performer and joining teammate Lavoy Allen (four points, 11 rebounds, and three assists) on the all-championship team.

"We kept our poise," said Allen. "We've been doing it all year."

"In the end it was hard for us to score," Fernandez said. "It's always hard to play against their matchup zone."

Guard Ryan Brooks and swingman Ramone Moore, who had 12 points each, combined to go six for six from the free throw line during the 50.3 seconds to seal the win.

Under former Archbishop Ryan and Princeton player Chris Mooney (Class of '94), Richmond ran a version of the pass-and-cut offense the coach learned while playing for the Tigers. It's a style of offense Dunphy saw twice a season during his 17 years running the program at Penn.

In 6-0 junior Kevin Anderson and 6-4 senior David Gonzalvez, the Spiders have a top backcourt tandem. Harris, who brought a scoring average of 17.9 points-per-game into the contest, was named the A-10 player of the year. Gonzalvez was averaging 14.7 points.

Anderson finished with 14 points to lead Richmond, and his circus shot at the basket pulled the Spiders to 49-45 with 4:02 to go.

Temple guard Luis Guzman opened up on Anderson, and on Richmond's first possession, he got between Anderson and a hand-off, stole the ball and took off for a breakaway layup.

The ultra-quick and fast Anderson, who had 29 points when the teams met in February, was quiet before hitting a three-pointer from the left wing under 12 remaining in the first half, leaving Temple with an 11-9 edge.

When Guzman picked up his second foul with 6:49 left before halftime - he was whistled for a block on one of Richmond's big men - Temple was ahead by 21-15. That difference was provided by Moore came off the bench to nail a shot from beyond the arc on each side of the court.

And with Guzman on the bench, the job of guarding Anderson fell to the 6-4 Moore. Anderson, who totaled 27 points in Richmond's semifinal win over Xavier, wound shooting one for seven before the break yesterday.

Temple was up by four points when intermission arrived. The Owls' leading point producer, Brooks, had yet to score. His first basket gave the Owls a 38-28 lead with 15:57 left to play.

Notes. Kevin Hovde, a 6-6 senior forward from Kennett Square, suffered a broken ankle during the preseason and was put on the redshirt list.