Moore Leads Owls To 11th Straight Win
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ramone Moore scored five of his 18 points in overtime to help No. 22 Temple beat La Salle 80-79 on Wednesday night, the Owls' 11th straight win.
Khalif Wyatt scored 25 points and Michael Eric had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Temple (22-5, 11-2 Atlantic 10), which moved into the Top 25 this week for the first time this season.
Earl Pettis had a career-high 33 points, including the last seven in regulation, for La Salle (18-10, 7-6).
Pettis hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring in overtime before Temple scored the next nine points. Moore hit a 3-pointer and then his jumper gave the Owls a 76-74 lead they didn't relinquish.
After four free throws by Temple, Tyreek Duren's 3-pointer got La Salle within 80-77. Pettis hit a bank shot to cut it to 80-79. After Juan Fernandez missed a layup, the Explorers set up the last shot, but Pettis and Sam Mills missed 3-point attempts before the buzzer sounded.
The Explorers lost for the second time in 14 home games this season.
A raucous sellout crowd turned out at Tom Gola Arena for a matchup of Big 5 rivals, and there was plenty of trash-talking in the student section. A moment of silence was observed before the game for former La Salle player Alonzo Lewis, who died Tuesday night. Lewis, a two-time state champion as a coach at Chester High School, was inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame in 1980.
The Owls seemed to have the game well in hand before Pettis took over in the final 2 minutes of regulation. Pettis hit a jumper, made two free throws and then nailed a 3-pointer to tie it 71-71. After Wyatt missed a jumper, Duren missed a layup. Wyatt had the ball after a timeout with 05.6 seconds left, but he didn't get a shot off before the buzzer.
Temple's last basket in regulation came with 4:05 left.
The Explorers took their first lead since early in the first half on two free throws by Jerrell Wright with 11:14 left. Duren hit a 3-pointer to get them within a point before Wright finished off a 9-0 run at the free throw line.
But the Owls answered as Wyatt scored 10 straight points. He started with a 3-pointer then had a steal and dunked. Another 3 followed. Then he nailed a jumper to give Temple a 59-50 lead. Pettis finally ended Wyatt's show with a jumper.
The Owls built a 10-point lead in the first half, but La Salle cut it to 32-29 by halftime. An alley-oop pass to Galloway thrilled the crowd and Devon White followed with a dunk off a pass from Galloway to finish off the 9-2 run.
Temple improved to 3-0 against city opponents and will face Saint Joseph's on Saturday night.
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)