When the buzzer sounded, Fran Dunphy and Temple were 0-2 in the Big 5 and 0-2 in the Atlantic 10, and he seemed to be the only one who knew why.
The former Penn coach fell victim to a little of everything on both ends as St. Joseph's came into the Liacouras Center and left with an emphatic 80-67 victory.
"Their will was greater than ours," he said.
As far as the results go, there were all kinds of reasons why St. Joe's improved to 9-1 in the last 10 matchups in the rivalry.
In the first half, it was the effort of St. Joe's "Fab Four," as freshman guards D.J. Rivera, Garrett Williamson, Darrin Govens and Jawan Carter combined for 20 points to give the Hawks a 40-33 lead.
In the second it was a one-man show.
The size-challenged Owls had no answer for 6-foot-9 bruiser Ahmad Nivins, who scored 14 in the half, and Temple (6-8) never got close.
But Hawks coach Phil Martelli, unlike Dunphy, didn't really know why the Hawks were able to run away with this one.
"Overnight, there's a confidence level," Martelli said.
The Hawks (10-5, 3-0 Atlantic 10) indeed played with emotion in front of an unintimidating 6,056 fans.
After falling behind 15-6 early, the always-fiery Rivera finished off a 24-9 run with a three-pointer and dunk on consecutive possessions.
For the four-man freshman backcourt, which combined for 47 percent of the Hawks' minutes, the first half was a huge sign of potential. Carter and Govens from Chester, Williamson from Lower Merion and Rivera from Neumann-Goretti in the city could be a big attraction in town for quite a while.
"This was probably the best that they've played," Martelli said. "But I think there's more."
What they started, Nivins finished with a 20-point effort, going 6-for-10 from the floor and 8-for-8 from the line.
"The coaches told me beforehand that they have nobody who's a perfect matchup," Nivins said. "They have a big man [Sergio Olmos], but he's a work in progress. And [6-6 Dion] Dacons, don't get me wrong, is a tough gritty guy, but I have a height advantage over him."
Rob Ferguson also took advantage in the post to score 17 as the Hawks attained their second-highest point total of the year.
On the offensive end, the Owls' biggest problem came from the underwhelming shooting of Dionte Christmas, who came in as Temple's leading scorer.
Christmas scored just nine points, going 2-for-12 from the floor, and was held to single digits for the first time this season.
As the Quakers review the tape of this one in preparation to face Temple on Jan. 24 and St. Joe's three days later, they'll see one team peaking at the perfect time and another with plenty of issues to address on both ends of the court.
