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City Six: Other than Villanova, a rough year for Philly's Division I teams

The bad news for the City Six teams who are not Villanova is that this was a tough season. The good news? All of the teams will return significant players next season.

The bad news for the City Six teams who are not Villanova is that this was a tough season. The good news? All of the teams will return significant players next season.

Temple

Record: 16-16, 7-11 American Athletic Conference (8th place).

Preseason prediction: The Owls were picked to finish sixth in the AAC preseason poll.

AAC tournament: Temple lost 80-69 to No. 9 East Carolina in the first round.

Season highlight: The Owls beat two nationally ranked teams in two days beginning on Thanksgiving to win the NIT Season Tip-off title at the Barclays Center. It began with an 89-86 win over then No. 25 Florida State on Nov. 24 as 6-foot-8 freshman Quinton Rose scored a career-high 26 points off the bench, shooting 12 of 15 from the foul line. The Owls had trailed by 18 points with under 14 minutes remaining. Temple then beat then-No. 19 West Virginia, 81-77, in the final as Obi Enechionyia had 22 points and 12 rebounds and freshman Alani Moore scored 18. These two victories were part of a season-high, five-game win streak.

Other highlights: The Owls beat Memphis twice, and the Tigers were the only AAC team with a winning record that Temple beat. . . . The development of Rose, who averaged 10 points and became a starter late in the season. While his shooting needs work, his aggressiveness in attacking the basket will bode well for the future.

Season lowlight: Losing in the first round to East Carolina in the AAC tournament. ECU entered as the lowest-scoring AAC team (62.3 ppg.) and scored 80 points, after earlier scoring nearly that many in a 78-64 win over the Owls. ECU shot 10 for 21 from three-point range (47.6 percent) in the tourney win.

Other lowlights: Point guard Josh Brown, recovering from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in May, returned but after five games wasn't able to play due to soreness. His leadership and defense was especially missed on this young team. Couple that with sophomore guard Trey Lowe missing the entire season following injuries from a car accident in February 2016, and the Owls were without two of their top offensive players. . . . Losing at home to New Hampshire 57-52 in the second game of the season. . . . Squandering a 10-point lead with 8:29 left in a 64-63 home loss to Connecticut. . . . Being outscored 38-11 in the first half of an 77-53 New Year's Eve loss at Central Florida.

Line on the season: The Owls went 0-7 against the top four AAC teams.

La Salle

Record: 15-15, 9-9 Atlantic 10 (8th).

A-10 tournament: After a first round bye, the Explorers lost 82-73 to Davidson in the A-10 second round.

Preseason prediction: The Explorers were picked to finish 7th in the preseason poll.

Season highlight: After losing their first Atlantic Ten game at Dayton, the Explorers won five in a row, over St. Louis, Duquesne, Rhode Island, George Washington and Davidson. Only the Rhode Island game was on the road. In the 91-83 win over Davidson, senior guard Jordan Price scored 29 points.

Other highlights: After sitting out last season following his transfer from Syracuse, 6-7 junior B.J. Johnson enjoyed a strong season, leading the Explorers in scoring (17.6 ppg.) and rebounding (6.3 per game). . . . La Salle showed well in defeat during an 87-79 loss vs. then-No. 1 Villanova at the Palestra. Pookie Powell scored a career-high 27 points. . . . Three players had 20 or more points in a 96-93 triple overtime win at Mercer. Price scored 26, Johnson added 23 and Powell had 20.

Season lowlight: The Explorers were playing their best basketball of the season and were on the aforementioned five-game winning streak when they visited VCU and lost 90-52 on Jan. 22. La Salle shot 4 for 26 in the first half and trailed 42-16 at intermission. In addition, Powell was hurt that game and would miss the next six contests, in which La Salle would go 2-4. The Explorers were 11-6 after the loss and were never the same team.

Other lowlights: February and March. The Explorers were 4-7 overall in February and March and didn't own a victory over a team with a winning record in this span.

Line on the season: The Explorers were last in the A-10 in scoring defense (76.6 ppg.) and even though the offense was strong, it couldn't overcome the inconsistency on D.

St. Joseph's

Record: 11-20, 4-14 Atlantic 10 (13th).

A-10 tournament: The Hawks lost in the first round to Massachusetts, 70-63.

Preseason prediction: The Hawks were ninth in the A-10 preseason poll.

Season highlight: On Dec. 14, St. Joseph's won, 76-68, at Princeton, a team that went 14-0 in the Ivy League during the regular season. Guard Lamarr Kimble had 17 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.

Other highlights: That win over Princeton was part of a 5-2 stretch for the Hawks that began Dec. 11 with a 72-71 win at Drexel and ended with a 70-55 victory at Fordham on Jan. 7 behind a career-high 27 points from James Demery. . . . The development and improvement of freshman forward Charlie Brown, who averaged 12.8 points and was named to the all-Atlantic 10 rookie team.

Season lowlight: Injuries. Point guard Shavar Newkirk suffered a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament in a 68-63 home win over George Washington on Dec. 30. That win improved the Hawks to 7-5 and without Newkirk (20.3 ppg.) they would go 4-15 the rest of the way. Fellow guard Lamarr Kimble suffered a season-ending foot injury in an 87-76 home loss to Massachusetts on Feb. 11. From then on, the Hawks went 1-6 the rest of the way.

Other lowlights: The Hawks had the lowest free throw percentage in the A-10 (.650). They were also 13th in three point field goal percentage (32.4 percent).

Line on the season: While coach Phil Martelli preaches "next man up" the injuries, which also included Demery missing 11 games, were too much to overcome.

Drexel

Record: 9-23, 3-15 Colonial Athletic Association (10th).

CAA tournament: Drexel lost to James Madison, 80-70, in the first round of the CAA tournament.

Preseason prediction: The Dragons were picked to finish ninth in the CAA.

Season highlight: On a young team, 6-7 senior Rodney Williams provided great leadership and production. Williams led the Dragons in both scoring (15.6 ppg.) and rebounding (6.8 rpg.) and finished his career with 1,158 points and 687 rebounds.

Other highlights: Guard Kurk Lee set a Drexel freshman record with 478 points. . . . Under first-year coach Zach Spiker, the Dragons improved by three wins from the previous season.

Season lowlight: Defense and free throw shooting. Drexel was last in the CAA in scoring defense, allowing 78.4 points while shooting 66.7 percent from the foul line.

Other lowlights: The Dragons were 2-6 in games decided by five points or fewer.

Line on the season: Drexel made strides this season, but didn't finish with momentum after losing 10 of its final 11 games.

Penn

Record: 13-15, 6-8 Ivy League (4th).

Ivy tournament: After securing the fourth and final seed for the inaugural Ivy League tournament, Penn suffered a 72-64 overtime loss to Princeton at the Palestra.

Preseason prediction: The Quakers were picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League.

Season highlight: Making it to the Ivy League tournament and taking Princeton to the limit before losing in the above-mentioned overtime game to Princeton. Penn began its season 0-6 in the Ivy League and then went 6-2 to capture the final spot. The Quakers clinched the fourth spot with a 75-72 win over second-place Harvard in the regular-season finale as senior forward Matt Howard scored a career-high 24 points and tied his career high with 12 rebounds in his 100th career game.

Other highlights: A.J. Brodeur, a 6-8 freshman, led the Quakers in scoring (13.8 ppg.) and rebounding (6.9) and earned second-team all-Ivy honors. . . . Freshman guard Ryan Betley came on strong at the end of the year, and averaged 11.9 points, while totaling 18 points and 12 rebounds in the conference tournament loss to Princeton.

Season lowlight: Dropping the first six Ivy League games. Two of those losses were to Princeton and another to Harvard. The Quakers fell to 0-6 with a 64-49 loss at the Palestra to Princeton on Feb. 7 as winning Tigers made 14 three-pointers. At that point, few felt Penn could remain in the hunt for a postseason berth, but the Quakers, as previously mentioned, hit fire after that.

Other lowlights: In its second to last regular season game, Penn lost at home to non-Ivy tournament qualifier Dartmouth, 76-74. It was only the second time in program history that Dartmouth swept Penn. . . . The Quakers finished last in the Ivy League in free throw percentage (.657).

Line on the season: This was a resilient team, fighting back from a huge deficit to earn the tournament berth and with a young squad, the future appears bright.