Heartbreak on Valentine's Day

Derrick Battie practiced Temple coach John Chaney's preaching about rebounding at opportune times. Battie, who has been nursing a sprained ankle that caused him to miss Temple's last two games, came up with what teammate Rick Brunson called the biggest rebound of the season. Battie's subsequent layup gave the Owls the winning basket with 12.4 seconds left as Temple handed Penn a 59-56 loss at a sold-out Palestra. The Quakers had a last good chance, but after Penn guard Jerome Allen drove the lane and drew a pair of defenders, forward Shawn Trice, standing just to the right of the basket with Penn trailing by one point, could not handle Allen's pass. "The bottom line is I missed the pass," Trice said. "I let my teammates down. And we weren't tough enough in the end." Penn fouled quickly, and Owls guard Johnny Miller hit two free throws with 1.8 seconds left. A last-second inbounds pass to midcourt by Allen went astray. "Jerome [Allen] makes it all possible, because when he splits [the defense] it forces two people to stop him, and that means somebody's open," Chaney said. "And he finds them. He found a guy on the last play, just kicked it to him a little hard and it bounced out of his hands." Temple (13-7, 2-0 Big 5) held on for its 14th straight victory over the Quakers. The Owls earned a share of the Big 5 title with St. Joseph's on a night when Philly basketball legends, including Penn's Corky Calhoun, returned to the Palestra to be honored during the Big 5's 40th anniversary celebration. Temple and St. Joe's finish 2-0 in official Big 5 games. The Owls have now won four straight games and have made a strong bid for the NCAA tournament, having won on the road at Louisville and Penn in their last two games. Temple trailed 56-52 after Penn guard Matt Maloney answered a Miller three-pointer for the second time late in the game with a three-pointer of his own with 4:43 remaining. But Penn (13-4, 0-1) was held scoreless for the rest of the game. Quakers center Tim Krug missed two free throws, then Miller hit a three-pointer from the top of the key with 2:22 left to pull the Owls to within one point, 56-55. Battie's basket was the next and deciding score more than two minutes later. Maloney, whose father Jim is Temple's assistant coach, rebounded from a bad game against the Owls last year. Maloney scored a team-high 15 points, taking all 12 of his shots from three-point range and hitting five. Penn coach Fran Dunphy was particularly pleased with Maloney, and happy with his team's 40-percent shooting from the field against the Owls, who sport the top-ranked defense in the nation. "That's a great defensive team as has been proven over the years, and it's a shame that we didn't follow it through those last five minutes," Dunphy said. Penn closed the first half with a 6-0 spurt to open up a 28-23 lead, with Quakers forward Ira Bowman scoring all the points in the run, including a steal and dunk that electrified the crowd. The Quakers' biggest lead was six points when Maloney hit a trey to stake Penn to a 50-44 lead with 7:20 remaining in the contest. Penn was executing well against Temple's zone, driving the lane and kicking the ball to open players set along the perimeter. "They, perhaps, went into splitting and spreading against our zone better than anybody we faced, probably better than anybody we will face," Chaney said. "Most teams, stand, look around, pass around, run one cut and then try to get a play. These kids are already fixed in position when they come up the floor, so they're already there." Miller (15 points), Brunson (16 points, five assists) and Levan Alston (12 points) hurt the Quakers from the perimeter. Miller played with the confidence of a veteran taking two big shots at the end of the game, including the one Battie rebounded that answered Chaney's prayer.

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