Dribble Dawgs Lose To Temple
By Danny Bishop
BASKETBALL
Scootie Randall scored 18 points as No. 20 Temple took command in the second half and held off Georgia late to post a 65-58 win over the Dawgs in the second round of the Old Spice Classic basketball tournament here Friday.
The Dawgs will face Manhattan in the third round on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.
Temple (3-1) shot 52 percent from the field in breaking open a tight game in the second half. The Owls led 37-33 when Randall connected from 3-point range with 15:43 left. Both teams went scoreless for the next two minutes before Temple’s Khalif Wyatt hit a jumper that pushed the margin to 42-33 with 13:10 left.
The Owls’ lead reached double figures once at 46-35 before Georgia rallied back into contention. The Dawgs cut their deficit to four at 48-44 on a pair of foul shots by Chris Barnes with 8:07 left. Temple, however, responded and built its lead back to seven when Wyatt hit a jumper with 5:35 remaining, boosting the Owls back in front 54-47.
“We just couldn’t string together enough stops, especially in the second half,” coach Mark Fox said. “Our defense failed us and you have to give Temple credit. They’re a good team and they outplayed us.
“They played zone more in the first half, but I thought we handled the zone much better than last night. The key for us is that we’ve got to be a little more hard-nosed on the defensive end.”
Georgia mounted one final rally when Gerald Robinson’s driving layup with 1:13 left got the Dawgs within 59-55. The Owls answered with perhaps the game’s biggest bucket, a turnaround jumper by Rahlir Jefferson with 41 seconds left. Georgia was unable to score again until a Dustin Ware 3-pointer with just 20 seconds left.