Philly College Men’s Basketball Week In Review – Games of December 17 – 23

PHILLY COLLEGE SPORTS MEN’S BASKETBALL REVIEW

PhillyCollegeSports.com Player of the Week – Khalif Wyatt, Temple University – Wyatt scored a career-high 33 points on a big stage to help upset #3 Syracuse at Madison Square Garden.  A key factor in the award was that Wyatt played his best game to key a major upset.  Wyatt did that.  He also was the leading scorer for Temple in their three games this week.  Wyatt averaged 23.3 points per game while also contributing 3.3 rebounds and 2.23 assists for the week.

PhillyCollegeSports.com Honor Roll –

Damion Lee – Drexel

Ramon Galloway and Tyrone Garland – LaSalle

Greg Louis – Penn

Week of December 17 – December 23, 2012 Games

LA SALLE 8 – 2 Overall, 1 – 0 Big Five

Summary – Won 88 – 74 vs. Iona, Won 100 – 71 vs. Sacred Heart

LaSalle 88 Iona 74 – In his home debut Tyrone Garland scored a career-high 26 points, including 14 straight for the Explorers in the second half, to power LaSalle to the victory.  The run by Garland opened a 79 – 68 lead for the home team that they never lost.  Ramon Galloway scored 21 points, all in the first half when LaSalle needed to stay in the game.  Tyreek Duren and Jerrell Wright added 13 points, while Steve Zack pulled down 10 rebounds.

LaSalle 100 Sacred Heart 71 – The Explorers ran out to a 66 – 30 halftime lead and cruised to the win.  LaSalle is off to an 8 – 2 start, their best since the 1989-90 season.  Ramon Galloway scored a game-high 22 points and added 7 assists.  Jerrell Wright and Steve Zack scored 16 points.  Tyreek Duren had 14 points.  Tyrone Garland contributed 12 points and 6 assists.  The Explorers finished the day shooting 54% from the floor (34 – 63), 43% from 3-Point land (9 – 21), and 89% from the free throw line (23 – 26).

Next Game – 12/29 at Siena

PENN – 2 – 8 Overall, 0 – 1 Big Five

Results – Lost 83 – 60 at Delaware

Summary –

Delaware 83 Penn 60 – The Red and Blue lost to the Blue Hens for the second time this season.  Starters Miles Cartwright, Steve Rennard, and Henry Brooks did not play due to a violation of team rules.  Seven players were available and the squad jumped off to a 14 – 2 lead.  Delaware came back to led 32 – 26 at halftime.  The Blue Hens took a double-digit lead just two minutes into the second half, and the Quakers could not crack that barrier.  Greg Louis and Fran Dougherty led the Red and Blue with 18 points each.

Next Game – 12/28 at Wagner

SAINT JOSEPH’S 5 – 4 Overall, 0 – 1 Big Five

Result – Lost 60 – 57 vs. Fairfield

Summary –

Fairfield 60 Saint Joseph’s 57- Iona guard Derek Needham hit a three-pointer with 16 seconds to play that proved to be the game winner for the Gaels.  Saint Joseph’s took a 57 – 56 lead on a free throw by Chris Wilson before Iona took a timeout and set up the game winning play.  Ronald Roberts Jr. lead the Hawks with 19 points and 11 rebounds.  Langston Galloway added 15 points and C.J. Aiken scored 13 points.  The game featured 10 lead changed and 5 ties in the second half alone.

Next Game – 12/28 vs. Iona at the Hagan Arena

TEMPLE 9 – 2 Overall, 1 – 0 Big Five

Results – Won 63 – 46 vs. Alcorn State, Lost 72 – 62 to Canisius, Won 83 – 79 vs. #3 Syracuse at Madison Square Garden in the Chevrolet Gotham Classic.

Summary –

Temple 63 Alcorn State 46 – Khalif Wyatt became the 49^th player in school history to reach the 1,000 point plateau.  Wyatt had a game-high 20 points in the game.  Temple used a 14 – 2 run to break the game open in taking a 50 -35 lead with 8:08 to play.  A 7 point run down the stretch iced the contest for the Cherry and White in the first round of the Chevrolet Gotham Classic.  Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson added 11 points and Jake O’Brien scored 10 points.

Canisius 72 Temple 62 – The Owls saw their 11 game home winning streak come to an end as the Jim Baron coached Canisius team beat Temple in the second round of the Classic.  Khalif Wyatt was one of four Temple players to score in double figures.  He had a team-high 17 points.   Jake O’Brien had 14 points.  Will Cummings and Anthony Lee each put in 10 points.  Cold shooting was the undoing for the Owls who made 22 of 63 field goal attempts (34.9%) and just 4 of 28 from beyond the arc.  Canisius shot 43.4% (23 – 53), and 10 of 21 three-point shots (47%).

Temple 83 #3 Syracuse 79 – The Owls beat a top 10 team while being unranked for the fifth straight season.  This time the upset was not at home, it happened at Madison Square Garden in a nationally televised game if the Chevrolet Gotham Classic.  A career-high 33 points by Khalif Wyatt was the key to the upset.  An 11 – 3 run by Temple broke the game open from a 59-all tie.  From the free throw line Temple was 29 – 36 while Syracuse went 19 – 34.

Khalif Wyatt was named the Atlantic 10, NBC Sports Nation, and Philadelphia Big Five Player of the Week.

Next Game – 12/28 vs. Detroit – Chevrolet Gotham Classic at the Liacouris Center

VILLANOVA 8 – 4 Overall, 2 – 2 Big Five

Results – Won 83 – 56 at Monmouth

Summary –

Villanova 83 Monmouth 56 – The wildcats poured in 15 of 22 three-point shots, one shy of the school record, on the way to the win.  Six different players hit three-pointers on the way to their 8^th win of the season.  A 10 – 2 run gave the Wildcats a 44 – 27 halftime lead.  The largest lead for Nova was 79 – 51 with just over 3 minutes to play.  JayVaughn Pinkston scored 16 points and dished out 8 assists.  James Bell added 15 points

Next Game – 1/2/13 vs. St. John’s at The Pavilion

DREXEL 4 – 7 Overall

Results – Won 69 – 58 vs. Davidson

Summary –

Drexel 69 Davidson 58 – Damion Lee registered his first double-double of the season scoring 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead Drexel to the win.  Frantz Massenat added 14 points and handed out 6 assists.  Davidson erased the gap to 4 points late in the game, but Drexel answered every charge with a key basket or a stop.  A dunk by Lee on a rebound and assist by Massenat with 1:05 remaining gave the Dragons a 10-point lead.

Damion Lee was named the CAA Player of the Week.

Next Game – 12/31 vs. Saint Joseph’s at the DAC