Temple University Athletics
Temple University
4-2
Central Michigan
4-3
Temple Sets New Liacouras Center Record With 86-74 Win Over Central Michigan 86-74
12.3.11 | Men's Basketball
Aaron Brown has career day to lead Owls
Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Press Conference: Coach Dunphy | K. Wyatt and A. Brown | Photo Gallery
PHILADELPHIA - Home Sweet Home! That is how the Temple men's basketball team felt as it defeated Central Michigan, 86-74, Saturday afternoon in its home opener. The win set a new Liacouras Center record for consecutive wins with 23 and improved the Owls to 4-2 on the season.
Sophomore Aaron Brown had a career-night. The 6-5 guard shot seven-of-11 from the field (4-7 form 3-point range) to finish with a career-high 21 points off the bench. He also had a season high five rebounds in his 22 minutes on the court.
For the second time this season, five Temple players saw their scoring totals reach double figures. Junior guard Khalif Wyatt went five-of-six from the field and dealt a career-high seven assists. He led all scorers with 23 points. Senior guard Ramone Moore added 17 points while junior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson tied his season high with 13 points and matched his career-high with three blocked shots.
Senior Juan Fernandez rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points while dishing a season and game high nine assists. Last, but not least, redshirt freshman Anthony Lee hauled down nine boards for the second straight game, and blocked a career-high three shots.
The Owls opened the game on senior Ramone Moore's three-point basket and never looked back. Temple would quickly extend its lead to double figures five minutes into the contest and eventually to a high of 24 points, 49-25, with 3:25 remaining in the half.
The Chippewas (4-3) cut the deficit to 51-37 at the half on a 12-4 run, and scored the first six point of the second half to make it 51-43.
An 8-0 Temple run capped by a Moore lay-up brought the margin back to a comfortable 16 points (59-43). A basket by Andre Coimbra (22 points) started a run of seven unanswered CMU points that was capped by a three-pointer by Trey Ziegler (22 points) to bring the deficit under double figures (59-50) again.
Brown then scored seven points in a 9-2 TU run that pushed the margin back to 16 points (68-52) with 10:37 remaining. This time the Owls were able to keep the Chippewas at bay, holding a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
Temple looked impressive on offense in its second game without starting graduate forward Micheal Eric. The Owls scored a season-high 86 points and dished 22 assists on 28 baskets. TU also made 11 three-pointers on 24 attempts and out-rebounded CMU, 35-28.
Temple completes its three-game MAC swing with a trip to Toledo Wednesday (7:00 p.m./1210 AM WPHT) before returning home to host Big 5 rival Villanova on Saturday, Dec. 10.
