Belmont Takes down Temple in First Four as Fran Dunphy bows out

Dayton OH: The Madness that is the NCAA Tournament begins with the First Four from Dayton Ohio and one of the games features Belmont taking on Temple Owls. The Winner of this game will head to Jacksonville to take on Maryland on Thursday.

Temple comes into the game off a loss to Wichita State and Belmont enters the game also off a loss. This game could be the final one for Fran Dunphy as head coach of the Owls.

Temple would open the scoring with a basket from JP Moorman for the 2-0, then Belmont would score the next 8 points and take a 15-8 lead with 14:47 left, The Owls would go on a run and they would retake the lead on 3 pointer by Shizz Alston for the 19-17 lead with 11:53 left. Temple would get the lead up to 5 at 24-19 and then the Bruins would answer the Owls run and would take a 6 point lead into halftime at 37-31.

In the Second half, The Bruins would keep the pressure on the Owls as they got the lead up to 11 at 42-31. Temple would show that Philadelphia fight as they would rally back lead by Shizz Alston

3 by Alston tied the game

Temple would retake the lead on a steal by Nate Pierre-Louis which would make it 48-46 with 13:24 left.

Steal by Nate Pierre-Louis

The Owls would get the lead up to 5 at 52-47 with 11:24 left and then the Bruins would answer the Owls run and take a small lead, Owls would cut it down to 1 at 56-55 with 8:01 left.

The Bruins would just make it difficult for the Owls as the lead would start to grow and time would not be on the side of the Owls. Belmont would take this game 81-70 and this game would make the final one for Temple coach Fran Dunphy.


Dunphy would do his final TV Interview with TruTV after the game

Interview


In the Postgame press conference, Dunphy would say the following

“Hard-fought game. I thought that Belmont did some really good things at opportune times. I thought our comeback in the second half was terrific. They made a couple of big shots that helped them. They got a couple of offensive rebounds. A couple of plays that just didn’t go our way. We needed to be a little sharper offensively and do some different things that would have allowed us to get to the rim and maybe get more foul shots attempted, those kinds of things. But very proud of our guys, who they are and how they comport themselves and do a good job. I’m proud of these two. And it’s been a great four years with Shizz, a great two years with Nate. I’m grateful for that.”

Then Dunphy would be asked has it hit him that it is over??

“No, I’m just disappointed for the guys that we’re not able to continue on and go to Jacksonville and play against a team like the University of Maryland. And give a lot of credit to Belmont. They’re a good team. Rick does a great job of coaching them. A kid like Windler, who I thought Nate did a terrific job on him, but he didn’t do anything crazy. He let the game come to him. He goes 14 rebounds. And he was a critical piece to their whole game plan, even though he wasn’t scoring. I think that’s a sign of a terrific basketball player. But, no, to answer your question, I haven’t thought too much about it. I will reflect in the coming days. And again I’m very appreciative of what Temple University gave to me, what the University of Pennsylvania gave to me. And I’m a pretty fortunate guy.”

Final Numbers:

Temple Owls:
Shizz Alston: 21 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists
Nate Pierre-Louis: 13 points, 11 rebounds
JP Moorman & Quinton Rose each with 10 points

Belmont Bruins:
Kevin McClain: 29 points, 4 rebounds
Nick Muszynski:16 points, 4 rebounds
Michael Benkert & Grayson Murphy each with 9 points