Temple Dominates Early, Holds On Late

    Temple fans can now exhale.  After jumping out to a big lead early in today's first round NCAA Tournament game against NC State, the Owls survived a late rally from the Wolfpack to advance to the round of 32, with a 76-72 win.  Temple seemingly had the game in control throughout, until raising the blood pressure of Owls fans everywhere for the final five minutes.

    The Owls were in a groove early, and shooting the lights out of the building.  After a back and forth first ten minutes of the game, Temple gained control over NC State for the remainder of the half.  The Owls took a sixteen point lead into the locker room at halftime, by a score of  38-22.

    Temple emerged from the locker room still playing strong and controlling the game for the first fifteen minutes of the second half, before the Wolfpack gave every Owls fan a scare.  NC State went on a run over the final five minutes of the game that saw them close the Owls lead to as little as 2 with two seconds remaining.  The Owls had possession, however, and were put on the free throw line to take the contest by a final score of 76-72.  

    Khalif Wyatt led the Owls with a remarkable effort against the Wolfpack.  Wyatt scored 31 points, while dishing out 5 assists, and collecting 3 steals in the contest.  While Wyatt showed how prolific of a scorer he can be, he was cold from three-point range today, going 1 for 7.  He will need to be more efficient for the Owls to keep their Tournament dreams alive.

    The Owls received quite the effort from their resident sharpshooter, Jake "O'Buckets" O'Brien.  O'Brien scored 18 points in the game on 7 for 9 shooting, and 4 for 6 shooting from three-point range.    O'Brien also collected 5 rebounds on the day.  

    Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson collected 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks on the day.  The big-man had a solid day all-around to help the Owls to victory.  Leading the Owls in rebounds, however, was Scootie Randall, with 8.  Randall also had 5 points and 3 assists, but will most likely need to increase his scoring for the Owls to win their next game.

    So after a hard-fought win today, Temple survives and advances to the Round of 32 to play the winner of Indiana versus James Madison.  While the Owls will most likely face Indiana, anything can happen come Tournament time, and they will need to bring their A-game regardless of the opponent. Can the Owls be this year's Cinderella squad?