UMass Eliminates Temple from A10 tourney

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Speedy 5-9 guard Chaz Williams tortured Temple with 20 points, 10 assists and four steals Friday afternoon at Boardwalk Hall and U. Mass shocked No. 21 Temple, 77-71, handing Temple a rare quarterfinal exit in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Top-seeded Temple, the Atlantic 10 regular-season champion, entered this years tourney 26-2 all-time in the A-10 quarterfinals and had won three of the last four tournaments.

U. Mass, leading by three, got two huge offensive rebounds in the final minute. The Minutemen shot 7-for-8 from the foul line in the final two minutes to clinch the win.

Temple led 64-62 with 4:45 left before getting outscored 15-7 to finish the game.

Temple fell to 24-7 overall and U. Mass improved to 22-10. How much this first-round loss will hurt the Owls NCAA seeding well find out on Sunday evening. Temple -- which leaves for the Big East in basketball after next season -- was expected to be a five seed or perhaps a four if it won the A-10 tourney.

This is only the fourth time since Temple joined the A-10 and first time since 2007 that Temple has failed to win a single game in the A-10 tourney.

Massachusetts had 14 steals, forced 22 turnovers and scored 23 points off Temple turnovers.

Temple guard Khalif Wyatt, the Owls second-leading scorer at 17.2 points per game, was benched for the first 10 minutes of the game by coach Fran Dunphy for disciplinary reasons. Wyatt wound up scoring 13 points, just five after halftime.

Ramone Moore led Temple with 14 points and Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson added 13. Michael Eric, limited to 22 minutes because of early foul trouble, had nine rebounds and seven points.

Jesse Morgan scored a game-high 21 points, including three of four threes. U. Mass shot 9-for-16 from three, including 5-for-8 in the second half.

Temple went on a 17-6 run in the first half that gave them a 22-13 lead with 8 12 minutes left, and they still led 36-29 with 1 12 minutes left in the first half.

But U. Mass scored the final basket of the first half and the first 15 points of the second half to build a double-digit lead. Temples first 12 second-half possessions were eight turnovers and 0-for-4 from the field.

The moment U. Masss run ended at 17-0, Temple went on a run of its own to reclaim the lead. The Owls outscored the Minutemen 14-2 over the next 4 12 minutes and led 64-62 with 5 12 minutes left on a three-point play by Wyatt.

But back-to-back threes by Morgan and Farrell gave U. Mass a 68-64 lead, and Temple never got any closer than two.

E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com

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