Men’s basketball team drops conference opener to Charlotte

Earlier in the season, the men’s basketball team showed it is susceptible to blowing large leads by squandering double-digit advantages in back-to-back losses to Providence and the College of Charleston in November. Almost two months

Earlier in the season, the men’s basketball team showed it is susceptible to blowing large leads by squandering double-digit advantages in back-to-back losses to Providence and the College of Charleston in November.

Almost two months later, the Owls proved they can allow single-digit leads to slip away also.

Temple closed the gap on a 17-point deficit but couldn’t hang on to the lead late in a 60-58 loss to Charlotte at Dale F. Halton Arena Saturday night.

Senior guard Mark Tyndale’s team-high 17 points weren’t enough for the Owls to overcome their first Atlantic Ten Conference opponent of the season.

The Owls (6-8, 0-1 A-10) trailed for the majority of the contest until Tyndale hit two jumpers in the span of 10 seconds to give Temple a 50-47 lead with four minutes, 24 seconds remaining. The 49ers (10-5, 1-0) regrouped to tie the game three separate times before taking a 58-55 lead on senior guard Leemire Goldwire’s three-pointer with 48 seconds left.

Sophomore guard Ryan Brooks nailed a trey to tie the game again, but Leemire Goldwire sank a pair of free throws on Charlotte’s next trip down the floor to put the 49ers ahead, 60-58, with 13 seconds left.

The Owls failed to get a shot off in their last possession of the game.

Goldwire, who finished with a team-high 21 points, scored the last 10 points of the game for the 49ers.

As they did in Wednesday’s loss to Duke, Temple dug itself into a hole early in the contest.

The 49ers established a 29-13 advantage behind a 9-0 run that started with 9:42 left in the first half.

Junior guard Dionte Christmas, who scored 23 points against Duke, was held to 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting. The Owls leading scorer, who also pulled down nine rebounds, converted all four of his field goals from behind the three-point line, attempting 10 shots from deep range.

The Owls return home to the Liacouras Center to play No. 25 Xavier (14-3, 2-0) Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

Tyson McCloud can be reached at Tyson@temple.edu

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