CHARLESTON, S.C. - Temple's Dionte Christmas did a lot, but mark it down as a good sign for the Owls that he didn't have to do it all.
Christmas scored 26 points to go with 11 rebounds and six assists, leading four players in double figures in the Owls' 79-65 victory over East Tennessee State in yesterday's first round of the Charleston Classic at Carolina First Arena.
"Everybody did a good job," Christmas said. "I don't believe I've got to come out every night and score 30 points a night when we've got Semaj Inge contributing like he is, and Ryan Brooks and Lavoy Allen and those guys. Ramone Moore had a great night. That makes my job a lot easier."
The Owls (1-0) will play at 2 p.m. today against the College of Charleston, which beat Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 72-66.
The Buccaneers (0-1) will play at 11:30 a.m. against SIU-Edwardsville.
In addition to Christmas' sparkling stat line, the Owls got 15 points from Brooks, 14 points and 15 rebounds from Allen, and 11 points from Moore.
But then again, it all comes back to Christmas.
"Everything we did defensively was geared toward stopping Christmas," Buccaneers coach Murry Bartow said. "We knew we couldn't shut him down, but we felt we had a chance if we could hold him to 16 points."
Instead, Christmas got his, and so did everyone else.
"I hope that we understand how to play a little bit," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "Christmas is going to draw some attention. He had six assists, and he probably had two or three other opportunities if we had finished plays at the rim. He played a pretty good team game tonight. He did a good job defensively as well.
"Lavoy Allen did a great job rebounding, and he can score also. Ryan Brooks did some good things. Ramone Moore gave us a nice spark off the bench."
Temple led by as many as 17 points in the first half and by 44-28 at halftime. Christmas had 15 points in the first half.
"He did a lot," Dunphy said. "He did a good job rebounding the basketball. We know he can score. He did a lot of good work, especially early. And he probably got a little bit tired, but at this point in his career, sometimes he has to play the full 40, and he did tonight. He was very effective for us for a long stretch of time."
The Owls led by as many as 20 points in the second half, but the Buccaneers made a late rally, cutting the lead to nine with 3 minutes, 28 seconds to play.
Temple put the game away thanks to a few clutch defensive stops.
"Since I've been here, I think this is one of the better openers we've had," Christmas said. "Everybody has been on the same page, and we just came out and handled business like we were supposed to.
"Any time you can come into a tournament and get a win against a tough team, it's a plus. We've got a lot of things to work on."
Today's game between the Owls and Cougars is a rematch from last year, when Temple blew a 25-point halftime lead in a 79-76 loss to Charleston on Nov. 16 in the Puerto Rico Tipoff.
