Temple shows focus in early win over St. Joseph’s

Fran Dunphy's concern was unwarranted.

With an 11 a.m. start time, the Temple coach wondered how his team would respond against St. Joseph's.

The answer was very well.

The Owls routed the Hawks, 72-54, in an Atlantic Ten matchup at the Palestra.

"I thought we were pretty focused today," said Dunphy, whose squad improved to 15-5 and 5-2 in the A-10. "I think you are always worried about what early in the morning might bring.

"But I thought our guys were attentive this morning at breakfast. And I thought they had their focus on today. So I was proud of them."

With just cause.

But posting a lopsided victory over St. Joseph's (5-16, 0-7) shouldn't come as a surprise.

The youthful Hawks suffered their eighth consecutive loss of the season. They have also lost 14 of 16 games since starting 3-2.

And Saturday marked Temple's eighth straight victory over its rival. This game did not count in the Big Five standings.

"We have to get more urgent," said St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli, whose squad never led against Temple and trailed by as many as 22 points with 2 minutes, 41 seconds remaining. "We don't have enough urgency in my opinion, even in recovery.

"We will get to something, and we don't get back. We need a little bit more of that."

In this particular game, being outrebounding by 38-23, giving up 18 second-chance points, and failing to stop Scootie Randall and Lavoy Allen were the problems.

Randall made 3 of 5 three-pointers en route to finishing with a team-high 17 points. The 6-foot-5 junior swingman also added seven rebounds and two assists.

Allen, meanwhile, produced his second consecutive double-double after being held scoreless on Jan. 22 at Xavier.

On Saturday, the 6-foot-9 senior power forward tallied 15 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocked shots. In the process, the Wooden Award candidate produced his fourth double-double of the season.

Allen feels his back-to-back stellar performances are a result of focusing on what he did last season.

"And stop listening to what other people are saying and other criticisms and things like that," said the NBA prospect, who had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks Wednesday night against Charlotte. "I was just playing my game and preparing for this game."

Allen, along with Temple junior center Micheal Eric, also neutralized St. Joseph's freshman center C.J. Aiken, who came into the game as the nation's second-leading shot blocker at 4.1 per game.

Aiken blocked two shots against Temple, but made just 1 of 6 field-goal attempts. He finished with four points, three rebounds, and two turnovers.

Sophomore point guard Carl Jones (19 points) and reserve freshman forward Ronald Roberts (17) both had big games for the Hawks.

Unfortunately for St. Joseph's, it wasn't weren't nearly enough to snap the losing streak.

After the Hawks pulled within 11-10 with 11 minutes, 8 seconds before intermission, the Owls blew the game wide open with 12-0 run and led by double-digits the rest of the way.

Notes. Temple point guard Juan Fernandez missed his second straight game with a bone bruise in his left knee. . . . This weekend marked the seventh annual Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend. As a result, coaches from both teams along with Temple's support staff and student managers wore sneakers on the sidelines.