Thursday, February 17, 2011
Posted: 8:45 p.m.Updated: 10:12 p.m.
By Reuben Frank
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
Slump? This went way beyond a slump.
Temple guard Juan Fernandez had made six of 28 shots in his last three games. Thats 21 percent.
He had made 16 of 57 shots in his last seven games. Thats 28 percent.
Going all the way back to the third game of the season, Fernandez was shooting just 32 percent over the past 2 months.
So Fernandez did the only thing he could do.
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He kept shooting.
Fernandez shot 10 times Thursday night against Richmond and missed just oncea 26-foot desperation heave with the shot clock running down late in the second half.
Fernandez scored 20 pointsmatching his season highand Temple turned in what coach Fran Dunphy said was the Owls best performance of the year in a 73-53 win over red-hot Richmond at the Liacouras Center.
The 53 points are Richmonds fewest since last years A-10 championship game, a 56-52 loss to Temple in Atlantic City.
Is Fernandezs long-lost shot back?
Hopefully, he said. It was definitely there today. Been trying to get my confidence back, and I knew today was a big game, and luckily for me it was a big game personally, but more importantly it was a good team win.
Fernandez shot 43 percent from the field last year and averaged 12.6 points per game. This year, those numbers dropped to 31 percent and 9.7 per game.
Usually, you miss because you think too much before you take a shot, Fernandez said. So you just have to grab the ball and throw it up there without thinking as fast as possible. But its not an easy thing to do, believe me. You just work on it. Hopefully, its the start of something personally, and the team keeps winning and we can keep this going. Hopefully, its coming back.
Richmond had won 12 of its last 15 games and would have moved ahead of Temple in the A-10 standings with a win.
Instead, No. 23 Temple moved into sole possession of second place in the Atlantic 10 Conference at 10-2. Richmond fell to 9-3 in the conference. Duquesne, 9-2, plays at Dayton on Saturday. The top four seeds earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
Temple has now won seven straight games since a loss to Xavier in Cincinnati on Jan. 22 and has won 20 straight home games going back to a 32-point loss to Kansas last Jan. 2.
Temple improved to 20-6 overall, locking up its fourth consecutive 20-win season under Fran Dunphy and 19th 20-win season in the last 28 years. Going back to his years at Penn, Dunphys teams have won 20 or more games 14 times in the last 20 seasons.
Richmond, which had won four straight, seven of its last eight and eight straight road games dating back to a loss to Old Dominion on Dec. 1 in Norfolk, fell to 20-7.
Junior guard Ramone Moore made 10 of 15 shots, including four of five three-pointers, for a game-high 24 points. Hes averaging 24.0 in his last three games. Junior forward Scootie Randall added 10.
Juan, he carried us last year and we know what hes capable of doing, Moore said. Its always good to have Juan have great confidence, and hell be an important part of what we do later in the season.
Five different players scored during a 16-0 run that turned a five-point lead at 38-33 with 17:42 left in the game into a 21-point lead at 54-33 just 3:52 later.
They came out and knew they had to make a run, Moore said. In our last home game, Fordham, we had a big lead and they came back, so at halftime I told the guys, Lets keep that in the back of our minds to not let that happen. We did a good job of matching their run and going on a 16-0 run of our own and getting that big lead back.
Senior all-conference forward Lavoy Allen, who missed Temples win at Dayton with an ankle sprain, returned to action and collected eight points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots in 37 minutes.
But Fernandezs best game since he had 23 against La Salle last year was the most encouraging thing to come out of Thursday night.
Hes a tough guy and a talented guy, and thats a good combination, Dunphy said. You know hes going to eventually get out of it, because hes had a great deal of success in the past, and just kind of ride it out. Certainly, we needed him tonight to have this kind of game that he had.
What about Fernandezs one miss?
That was T.J.s fault, joked Fernandez, referring to T.J. DiLeo. Nah, Im just kidding. There were four seconds left on the shot clock, and I thought there was just two. I just threw it up there.
Temple shot 56 percent from the field (30 for 54) and limited Richmond to 39 percent (22 for 56).
When you make shots it makes it look like you know what youre doing, Dunphy said. Be honest with you, I think their defense is really good, and I thought we played against it as good as we could.
We played about our best basketball game of the year. I thought we played about as good as we could.
Kevin Anderson scored 15 for Richmond and Justin Harper added 14.
But the Spiders had no answer for Fernandez.
His numbers arent where he probably wants them to be, but hes a really good player, said Richmond coach Chris Mooney, who played for Pete Caril at Princeton in the early 1990s. Hes so smart and savvy and has a really good feel for the game. Even when hes not shooting well, he can hurt you. And obviously, hes even that much better when hes shooting well.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com