TOLEDO NO MATCH FOR TEMPLE

December 07, 2011 – The Temple Owls used a strong performance on the glass coupled with a 52.8 per-cent shooting night to power past the host Toledo Rockets, 77-58, Wednesday evening in Savage Arena.

Temple (4-2) before the Toledo victory, was playing its third consecutive game against a Mid-American Conference foe, and prior to Wednesday's encounter, the Owls had suffered a 67-64 road loss at the hands of Bowling Green before earning an 86-74 victory over Central Michigan, also on the road. So the meeting with Toledo would be the rubber match of their current Mid-West tour.

Things didn't begin well for the Midnight Blue and Gold as they found themselves down by eighteen points, 30-12, with nine minutes yet to be played in the half.

The Owls didn't have a player under 6-4 in the opening lineup and that size advantage became very apparent early on, dominating the offensive boards and holding the Rockets to a one-and-done on the defensive end.

Temple seemed to be getting point production from just about everyone on the floor, whether it be layups, three-point shots, or a number of dunks, while Toledo was struggling to find some composure

Before the first half ended, the home team gave the 4,353 fans that attended the game some reason to cheer, with a 12-0 run that closed the score to 30-24. Rian Pearson accounted for ten of UT's points in the run and brought a loud cheer from the crowd when he rebounded a missed shot and slammed the ball through the basket.

Reese Holliday was able to bring Toledo to within six points, 33-27 at the 3:04 mark but the Owls then converted a trey for a nine point 36-27 bulge at the break.

Temple shot 50% from the floor in the opening period, a figure that included 7-of-15 from beyond the arc. Conversely the Rockets were shut out from long distance on six attempts.

Early in the second half Buckley made it a 36-31 game when he drained Toledo's first three-pointer of the game, but that was probably the high-water mark for UT as things quickly went south.

Time and time again the Owls befuddled Toledo with crisp passes into the low post for easy buckets, or kickouts to unguarded players deep in the corner for unmolested three pointers. The Temple lead twice reached 23 points before the buzzer mercifully ended the game

” The loss is really disappointing because we didn't come out and play the way we wanted to play,” said Pearson after the game.. "Our defensive energy just wasn't there tonight, plus we got killed on the glass and lost those 50-50 hustle plays.”

Pearson had 16 points and eight rebounds to pace the Rockets in defeat. Buckley and freshman point guard “Juice” Brown each contributed 12 points to the Rocket cause.

Aaron Brown, Temple's 6-5 sophomore guard came off the bench to lead all scorers with 19 points. Brown was 7-of-10 from the floor, including 5-of-8 from three-point land. Two other Owls finished in double-figures.

The visitors had a commanding edge in long distance accuracy, connecting on 11-of-24 while the Rockets could make good on just 2-of-13 attempts.

“Temple is a good basketball team, very well disciplined and very well coached,” said Coach Tod Kowalczyk. “We didn't necessarily play well but I thought a lot of our struggles, was more us. We lost our ball pressure and we lost those intangibles that make us pretty good. Offensively we struggled with their physical play and their size, and typically they are one of the best defensive teams in the country.”

Toledo (6-2) must now concentrate on a home game with Loyola Illinois as the second part of a Savage Arena double-header this Saturday, Dec.10.