Temple loses to Michigan State
DENVER (AP) - March 20, 2008 Raymar Morgan led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points and
the Spartans beat Temple 72-61 Thursday in the first round of the
South Regional.
Last year, Drew Neitzel was the Spartans' only option on
offense. Now, he's got scorers swarming all around. Chris Allen
scored 12 points and Drew Naymick finished with 10 for fifth-seeded
Michigan State, which goes nine deep and will face the
Pittsburgh-Oral Roberts winner Saturday at the Pepsi Center.
Mark Tyndale scored 16 points for Temple (21-13), which was
making its first trip to the NCAA tournament since losing to
Michigan State in a 2001 regional final. Dionte Christmas, the
Owls' leading scorer, was limited to three points, 17 below his
average, on 1-of-12 shooting.
The balanced Spartans (26-8) are making their 11th straight trip
to the NCAA tournament, but they haven't advanced out of the second
round since 2005, when they lost to North Carolina in the national
semifinals.
Neitzel was a freshman on that team and acknowledged this week
that as his college career winds down, he thought he'd have cut
down a lot more nets and left a bigger imprint on the program than
he has.
Neitzel, who averages 14.2 points, scored just five points on
2-of-11 shooting. He didn't score until swishing a 3-pointer in the
final minute of the first half, which ended with the Spartans ahead
35-26.
The Spartans led by 19 with 8:49 left before the Owls made a run
to make it respectable, and they did it with Neitzel on the bench
in foul trouble.
Neitzel never appreciated Michigan State's balanced attack more
than Thursday, when he picked up his second foul with less than a
second left in the first half and was whistled for his third just
26 seconds into the second half.
The Spartans used a 15-2 run in the first half to take a 30-17
lead. Seven different players scored points during the spurt, which
was capped by a bucket from defensive specialist Idong Ibok - who
averages less than a point.
Keying the run was the Spartans' stingy defense, which flooded
the paint with arms and legs and hips and denied Christmas many
open looks. The one time he did have an open shot, he was hammered
on a 3-pointer but the official standing next to him called no
foul.
Tyndale also thought he was hit on his right elbow, forcing an
airball on a 3-point attempt in the closing minutes of the first
half, but the officials again didn't see it that way, leaving the
flustered Owls shaking their heads.
Morgan guarded Christmas most of the time, switching off with
Travis Walton, the Spartans' best perimeter defender, and Michigan
State did a wonderful job denying him the ball.
Christmas didn't score until the 13-minute mark of the second
half, pulling the Owls to 44-30, but he later forced a 3-pointer
and also a pass that led to easy buckets for the Spartans.
Things got so bad for Christmas that even when he found himself
open under the basket in the waning minutes, his teammates didn't
find him.
Just before picking up his fourth foul and taking a seat on the
bench, Neitzel missed a runner that Naymick soared in to slam down
the rebound for a 58-39 lead.
While Neitzel was gone, however, the Owls cut Michigan State's
led to 64-54, forcing a timeout with 3:21 left.
Fran Dunphy, who took Penn to nine NCAA tournaments before
taking the challenge of resurrecting Temple, used the recruits he
inherited from John Chaney two years ago, but the Owls looked
nothing like the teams that the Hall of Fame coach used to bring to
the tournament.
When Dunphy succeeded Chaney, he ditched the half-court offense
for an up-tempo style. He threw away the old matchup zone that
Chaney used to baffle opponents, and replaced it with a tough man
to man.
The Owls struggled through a 12-18 season in Dunphy's first year
and then shook off a 6-8 start to win the Atlantic 10 championship
this season, beating rival Saint Joseph's 69-64 in the title game.
But they couldn't keep up with the Spartans, who outran and
outmuscled the Owls.