Lately, the Temple-Saint Joseph's series has done wonders for the Owls' postseason prospects.
The two teams met in the Atlantic-10 tournament finals last year, and Temple's dramatic victory earned it the league's automatic NCAA bid.
Similarly, last night's matchup was less about Big 5 bragging rights than about the A-10 horse race. The Owls kept their hold on the coveted fourth-place slot in the conference standings by beating St. Joe's, 61-59, at the Palestra.
If it finishes in the league's top four, Temple (14-9, 6-3 A-10) will grab a first-round bye in the conference tournament and the inside track to an NCAA berth. The Hawks (14-9, 7-2) are a good bet to do the same. They now sit in third place, a half-game behind co-leaders Dayton and Xavier.
The Owls used an 8-0 run in the final four and a half minutes of the first half to take a 29-21 lead into halftime and maintained a slim lead for most of the second half.
They had an eight-point lead with 58 seconds remaining, but they almost let the win slip away with a woeful performance from the free-throw line.
Perhaps they weren't warmed up. It took over 37 minutes for Temple to get to the free-throw line, and they would go on to take 18 free throws in the final two and a half minutes, missing an astonishing 11. Forward Lavoy Allen could have stretched Temple's lead to 13 points with those first free throws, but he missed both.
Temple coach Fran Dunphy said that his team was "lucky to get out of here" with a win.
"Things like that happen," said Temple senior Dionte Christmas, the A-10's top scorer with 20 points per game (he had 19 last night, along with 11 rebounds).
"Typically, we're a good foul shooting team. This just wasn't our night."
The Hawks went 15-for-15 from the stripe but struggled to find production beyond their starting five, all of whom played at least 32 minutes. The St. Joe's bench contributed zero points.
Senior forward Ahmad Nivins put up his usual stellar offensive performace - 7-for-14 shooting and 21 points. But the Temple frontcourt of Allen, 7-foot senior Sergio Olmos and sophomore Craig Williams kept him from dominating the boards as he failed to produce a double-double for the first time in 10 games. He finished with just six rebounds.
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