IS LIVE CHATTING EAGLES-BEARS
Wouldn't it be great if I made this game-winning shot?
Don't psyche yourself out.
I wonder what Coach Martelli will do to me if I miss it?
Instead, the St. Joseph's senior simply cleared his mind and did what he's done countless times alone in a gym. With 3.9 seconds left, Calathes drained a three-pointer to lift the Hawks past resurgent Temple, 68-67, last night at the Liacouras Center, which was nearly full and electric.
Still, the Hawks' 6-foot-11 forward permitted a pessimistic thought after the fact.
"If I had missed the shot," said Calathes, who had a game-high 24 points, "I [would have] been walking home."
There are worse arenas to have to trudge home from. But the sentiment remains: When St. Joe's and Temple face off, the stakes are higher, even if there has been a falloff in the City Series.
The rivalry received a shot of adrenaline last night.
"I'd be less than honest with you if I didn't tell you that I'm still numb," St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli said. "I'm still trying to figure exactly what happened."
So are the Owls, who played splendidly and did almost everything, but still didn't win. As far as Martelli was concerned, the better team lost.
"That's admirable and magnanimous of my friend," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "But they won the game. They deserve to win the game."
Temple (9-9 overall, 2-2 Atlantic Ten) had its chances, although it would be difficult to fault Mark Tyndale as the sole culprit. The senior guard scored 10 straight points down the stretch, his last bucket giving the Owls a 67-65 lead with 41.8 seconds remaining.
Tyndale even forced a turnover on the ensuing possession. The Hawks then fouled the 68.2 percent foul shooter with 17 seconds to go. But he was long on the first end of a one-and-one, and St. Joe's (12-5, 4-1) had life.
"Please don't remind me about that free throw," Tyndale said. "I think I let my teammates down."
The Hawks' Garrett Williamson dribbled deep, ran into a wall, and kicked out to Rob Ferguson at the top of the key. Tyndale and teammate Dionte Christmas both ran at Ferguson, who had been perfect (5 of 5) from essentially that exact spot. In doing so, Christmas left Calathes, and Ferguson kicked it to his wide-open teammate.
Calathes lined up and sank the biggest shot of his career.
"That's definitely No. 1," Calathes said. "Temple is a huge rivalry. I'm friends with just about every one of those guys."
The Owls, though, raced back upcourt with Semaj Inge finding Tyndale alone on the wing. He released the layup attempt with 0.4 seconds left, but Hawks center Ahmad Nivins was planted under the hoop and cleanly blocked the shot.
It was "a hard-fought city game that comes down to somebody making a shot and somebody else not making one," Dunphy said. "And that's the way life is."
St. Joe's has won five straight over Temple, including 12 of its last 13. But last night's effort from the Owls should carry over when the rivals meet again March 2 in a Big Five game at the Palestra.
"St. Joe's, they've just had our number over the last couple of years," Tyndale said. "I think we ought to try and get a win when we play them at the Palestra."
Listen to the postgame news conferences from the St. Joe's-Temple and Villanova-
Notre Dame games at http://go.philly.
com/pretzel.
See a photo gallery at http://go.philly.
com/photos.
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