Dejected Allen laments his poor shooting

TUCSON, Ariz. - Temple's postgame huddle is where Lavoy Allen usually is the player congratulating or consoling teammates.

Saturday night was different.

Distraught over his performance in the Owls' loss to San Diego State, Allen embraced Ramone Moore and wept as their teammates surrounded them on the McKale Center court.

His tears weren't just because his college career had ended seconds earlier in a 71-64 double-overtime defeat in the NCAA tournament. A lot of it had to do with his performances in the West Regional second- and third-round games.

"I didn't want to go out this early," said Allen, who made a combined six of 21 field-goal attempts. "You know, I really didn't play well the two games that we played here.

"I wanted to, you know, perform better for my team and hopefully come out with a victory."

Instead, Temple's all-time rebounds leader (1,147) was left thinking about how he could have done things better.

After making just 1 of 5 shots against Penn State, Allen was determined to be more aggressive on offense against the Aztecs. He was. But his shots just weren't falling.

The 6-foot-9, 225-pounder missed five of his first six attempts against an Aztecs defense that kept clogging the lane. Two of those early misses were makeable layups.

Allen redeemed himself, for a moment, when his jumper forced the first overtime with 54 seconds remaining in regulation.

He had a chance to make another great play with his team down, 67-64, and 44 seconds left in the second overtime. But his jump-hook shot was rushed, and San Diego State forward Malcolm Thomas blocked it.

Allen ended up making just 5 of 16 shots while finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists.

"I'm definitely going to think about this for a while," Allen said. "I'll try to put this in the back of my mind. But it probably won't go away for a long time."

Temple coach Fran Dunphy and Moore said that the four-year starter was being too hard on himself.

Dunphy always talks at length about Allen's being the reason the Owls won 26 games and advanced to a fourth consecutive NCAA tournament.

"He pretty much dragged all of us with him," the veteran coach said.

Moore, meanwhile, talked about everything his teammate has given to Temple's program. The junior guard will miss Allen, whose presence created wide-open shots for him.

"I don't criticize him for the way he played in the tourney," Moore said. "It just happened that things didn't go in his favor.

"But he had a hell of a career. And he can look back and say he did a lot for this program."