SPORTS BRIEFS

Lyde to make announcement
Temple junior basketball player Kevin Lyde, a three-year starter at center for the Owls, has called a press conference for this Thursday afternoon at 3:30. He is expected to announce his intention to enter June’s NBA Draft.

Lyde, a 6-foot-9 native of Washington, D.C., has led the team in rebounding for the last two season, and was among the team’s leading scorers in 2000-01.

If he declares for the draft, he would be the second Temple basketball player in two years to leave the Owls after his junior year. Mark Karcher, the Owls’ leading scorer in 1998-99 and 1999-2000, dropped out of classes and declared for the NBA Draft almost a year ago, eventually becoming the second-round pick of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Even if Lyde declares his professional intention however, he would still be able to change his mind up until the day of the draft so long as he doesn’t hire an agent.

Springtime for the A-10
Several Temple athletes were mentioned on this week’s Atlantic 10 Conference honor roll.

In addition to Greg Powell’s A-10 Pitcher of the Week honor in baseball, softball player Bari Lynn Pflueger was honored, as were tennis players Tamara Truta and Lara Ercegovic.

Pflueger, a sophomore first baseman from Allentown, leads Temple in batting average (.264) this season. Last week, she went 6-for-10 in three Owl wins over LaSalle, including a home run and three doubles.

Truta was named the Women’s Tennis Performer of the Week after going undefeated for the week from the Owls number-one singles position. Truta, a senior native of Croatia, beat the top players from Duquesne and Massachusetts.

Ercegovic—like Truta a native of Split, Croatia—was honored as the Women’s Tennis Rookie of the Week. She went undefeated from Temple’s number-two singles position, posting straight-sets wins over players from Duquesne and UMass.

Commissioner’s Cup
Temple’s unexpected run to the men’s basketball championship at the First Union Spectrum last month wasn’t enough to boost Owls athletics into serious contention for the Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Cup, the award given to the conference’s best-performing overall member.

Massachusetts leads the standings at the end of the winter sports season with a total of 86 points. The Minutemen and women are followed by Rhode Island, George Washington, Xavier and Dayton.

Temple stands in eighth place with a total of 50.5 point. The Owl women contributed 34 of those points, with the men’s teams accounting for the other 16.5. The Temple men’s basketball team is thus far the only Owl program to claim an A-10 title in this academic year.