City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Amidst the spectacle of the Big 5’s 60th anniversary, of Philadelphia basketball legends young and old taking the Palestra court once more to hear their names broadcast over the Cathedral of College Basketball’s public address system to raucous applause of a building stacked to its rafters, there was basketball still to be played.

There’s no one more familiar with the Big 5 than Temple head coach Fran Dunphy, who grew up Big 5 hoops before playing at La Salle, coaching at Penn from 1989-2006 and then heading over to run the Temple program for the last 10 years.

And the only man to coach at multiple Big 5 schools had his Owls ready for the first Big 5 doubleheader in over a decade, as Temple took home a 62-49 win over La Salle.

“I think it’s a phenomenal part of our sports history,” Dunphy said afterwards. “I think it’s to be celebrated, especially from my generation where I went to games all the time as a grade schooler as a high school, to get a chance to play here, chance to coach here, it’s a phenomenal part of Philadelphia and I’m proud to be a small part of it.”

Plenty of Big 5 history was present and accounted for, as former Big 5 players from the 1950s, 1960s and 1980s were introduced during second-half media timeouts.

The loudest ovations all game came--as expected--for two players, one from Temple and one from La Salle. The Cherry Crusade gave a warm welcome to Mark Macon, who led the Owls to a Sweet 16 appearance in 1991, but the whole Palestra exploded for Explorers legend Lionel “L-Train Simmons,” who scored over 3000 points in a storied four-year career and helped La Salle to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments between 1988-1990.

For those still playing out their college days, it’s a reminder that what they were partaking in had much more meaning than just one non-league basketball game played during the conference portion of the schedule.

“It just shows you the tradition that the Big 5 is a part of, and it’s great to be a part of it today,” Temple senior Jaylen Bond said.

Bond finished with 10 points and four rebounds, one of three Temple players in double figures, along with a dozen each from senior wing Quenton DeCosey and junior guard Josh Brown, who also had four assists and no turnovers in 38 minutes.

As a team, the Owls were an even 50 percent from the floor, making 26 of their 52 shots, with most of their looks coming either from around the rim or in the mid-range. Though Temple went down to Bond for his first two buckets of the game, they didn't quite take advantage of their opportunities inside against La Salle's zone defense as much as their coach would have liked.

"“We like to get our offense to do that more often," Dunphy said. "I did think we attacked the middle of the zone very well."

Some of those players newest to the Big 5 made a big impression early for Temple (10-7, 2-1 Big 5), as Dunphy had freshmen in his starting lineup for the fifth-straight game.

Wing guard Trey Lowe earned his second start of the season and center Ernest Aflakpui got his third straight nod, and both of them enjoyed strong performances in the first half.

Lowe led Temple with eight points over the opening 20 minutes, including a highlight-reel dunk-and-foul over La Salle’s Amar Stukes that came seconds after Lowe had stripped Stukes of the ball; he finished with those eight points, two rebounds and two assists in 14 minutes.

Aflakpui tied his career high in points (six) and rebounds (three) in 15 minutes played, getting two of his buckets off interior passes from Bond.

“I just try to look for him as best as I could,” Bond said. “When teams are doubling me I know he’s going to be open, so I just look for him.”

Temple went into the half up 33-25, but La Salle (5-11, 0-3) scored the first seven points of the second half to come within a point.

The Owls responded, scoring the next eight to re-establish the cushion, and the Explorers wouldn’t come that close the rest of the way.

“Our guys came out hard, and we played hard. We just didn’t have enough shot making, because besides Tony [Washington], we didn’t make shots,” La Salle head coach John Giannini said. “Temple, to their credit, really passes the ball well – only six turnovers. And good passers make good shooters. They got good shots and knocked them down.”

Giannini, stuck with only seven scholarship players due to injuries and the three ineligible transfers sitting on his bench, stuck with his starting lineup well into the second half, playing freshman wing Karl Harris for six minutes but giving the other 194 to his top five.

Washington, a redshirt sophomore forward and the only available La Salle player above 6-foot-5, finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds to set new career bests in both categories.

But a team that leans heavily on redshirt junior guard Jordan Price couldn’t overcome a 4-for-21 performance by the shooting guard; as a team, the Explorers were just 18-of-53 (34.0 percent) from the floor.

“We need him to score, but frankly I think he’s trying too hard,” Giannini said of Price, who entered play on Wednesday averaging . “I think if he can take a couple hard dribbles, the defense is so geared up to stop him, that if he just takes a few hard dribbles, he’ll have two or three guys come at him and he’s got to do what great players do and make the other guys a little bit better. And that’s hard.”