In its final regular season game, #25 Temple (24-6, 13-3 A10) won the Atlantic 10 regular season title by routing a struggling Fordham Rams team, 80-60. The Owls started off hot and got out on an early 9-0 run, from which Fordham could not recover.
Juan was one of the main catalysts, scoring 19 to lead the way (ESPN).
The Rams were lucky to be going into half only down by 10 points, because the Owls were playing a well-balanced offense with all starters scoring in the first half. By the time the second half was midway through, the game felt all but over, and the Owls used the rest of the game to close out and get ready for the A10 Tournament and beyond.
The Owls clinched the regular season title today, will be getting a bye in the Atlantic 10 tournament in Atlantic City, which starts on Tuesday with the first round. Temple looked like a top 10 team today because they had all starters score in double-digits, and they were led by star guards Juan Fernandez and Ramone Moore who had 19 and 16 points respectively. The Owls looked unstoppable, and are now preparing for the rigorous Atlantic 10 tournament and the big show, March Madness.
Eric, who had 11 points and 5 boards, is starting to become more of a force in the paint.
The Owls are ranked 25th in the country as of now, and are hoping to advance and gain a higher seed. The Owls will make the NCAA tournament no matter what happens in Atlantic City, but again the farther they go the higher seed they could get. As of now, Joe Lenaurdi has them as a six seed, but they will use that as an incentive to move up to where they were last year, a fifth seed.
The Owls will be an exciting team to watch this postseason, because they are now starting to play like one unit. The backcourt has had so much attention this year that the game plan is stop them, so now they are finding Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson and Michael Eric down low more often.
The Owls don’t play again until Friday, when they host the winner of 8th-seeded UMass versus 9th-seeded Duquesne.
