The men’s basketball team saw yet another large lead vanish in the second half Sunday.
This time Temple recovered and exited the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic with its first win of the season, a 73-69 overtime victory against Marist.
Mark Tyndale led all scorers with 23 points. Many of them came from the free throw line, where he drained 13 of 14 attempts. Tyndale was one of four Owls to reach double-digits.
Dionte Christmas finished with 15 points, Lavoy Allen had 14 and Ryan Brooks finished with 10, six of which came in the extra period.
The Owls (1-3) trailed 9-4 after four minutes, but burst for a 14-0 run over the next five minutes to take an 18-9 lead. Christmas scored eight points during the stretch, hitting two three-pointers and a jump shot.
Marist (1-3) revived itself after calling a timeout, embarking on a 15-6 run to knot the game at 24-24 with 5:13 remaining in the first half. But Marist hit just two more field goals the rest of the half, and Temple entered the break with a 34-28 lead.
Lavoy Allen entered the second half by hitting three straight baskets for six points, handing Temple a 40-30 lead with 17:16. That was the largest lead Temple would have all night.
But the Owls just made two of their next 14 shots from the floor, allowing Marist to erase its deficit and take a 54-46 lead with 7:25 left. The Owls crept back into the game courtesy of their free throw success. Brooks connected on two free throws and Tyndale sank five, to cut the Owls’ deficit to 56-53 with 4:14 remaining.
Luis Guzman finally hit a shot from the field for the Owls with 1:54 left. He fouled on the play and sank his ensuing free throw. Tyndale made four more free throws, giving the Owls a 60-58 advantage with 22 seconds left, but Ryan Stilphen sank a jumper to send the game into overtime.
With 1:28 left in the overtime period, Ryan Brooks laid Marist to bed, hitting a three-pointer to give the Owls a 70-67 lead they didn’t relinquish.
John Kopp can be reached at john.kopp@temple.edu.
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