St. Joe's holds off Temple's late run

With nine minutes and 39 seconds to go in the first of two annual grudge matches between Temple and Saint Joseph's, Hawks guard Chet Stachitas delivered what appeared to be the knockout blow by nailing a three to give his team an 18-point lead.

Over the next four minutes, though, the Owls cut the deficit to eight, led by two dunks from Mardy Collins and a pair of threes by DaShone Kirkendoll.

And even though most of the 8,412 fans in the Palestra weren't in the building last Tuesday night, there was something oddly familiar about the sudden burst of optimism at Temple's end of the floor.

But while the Hawks fans grew restless, coach Phil Martelli made sure that his team would not suffer the same fate as Princeton did Tuesday night.

So when, just over a minute later, Dwayne Lee nailed a three to put the Hawks back up by 13, it quickly became clear that history was not about to repeat itself.

The margin stayed in double digits for the rest of the afternoon, and St. Joe's rolled to a 69-57 win which solidified its place atop the Atlantic 10's Eastern Division.

Even though the game was played at the Palestra, the Big 5 meeting between these two teams will be played on Feb. 22 at Temple.

As has so often been the case this season, Pat Carroll was the star of the show. After a miserable 3-of-11 night from beyond the arc in the Holy War, Carroll rebounded by shooting 6-of-10 on Saturday, leading all scorers with 27 points.

"Pat Carroll needs to be a part of any conversation about who's the best player in this league," Martelli said. "So far, he hasn't been, and shame on all of us for that oversight."

The Hawks were surprisingly dominant on the boards, outrebounding Temple, 32-24. Center Dwayne Jones' 13 rebounds were more than double the combined six pulled down by Owls' big men Wayne Marshall and Keith Butler.

"We were very attentive to the smaller things in this game... you cannot give them anything extra," Jones said.

Martelli praised his team for its work ethic and for not sulking after losing to Villanova.

"Seven of them came in and watched film or shot Tuesday, which was an off day," he said. "We won't lessen our focus or attention to detail."

Owls coach John Chaney, however, was not in nearly as good a mood, and his press conference lacked the dry humor and lightheartedness which he usually brings to the media room.

Chaney expressed particular displeasure with junior forward Antywane Robinson, who has been a starter for much of this season but scored only two points in 19 minutes Saturday, while picking up four fouls.

"I've given up on him right now," Chaney said. "I hate to say that, because his father just came back from Iraq and was in the stands, so maybe that was pressure."

Regardless of the reason, there is now plenty of pressure on the entire Temple team, as St. Joe's draws closer to finishing atop its division for the fifth year in a row.

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