No. 5 Temple Hot, but Chaney Hotter

Playing against Temple and its famed matchup zone is usually tough enough for an opponent. But when the Owl players and Coach John Chaney are fighting mad, well, that’s what George Washington encountered Saturday.

No. 5-ranked Temple, breathing fire after a stunning loss to Philadelphia city rival St. Joseph’s Tuesday ended its winning streak at 13, shot a scorching season-high 60% in a 98-67 victory over George Washington at Washington.

Temple, 23-5 overall and 14-2 in the Atlantic 10, did its usual defensive number on the opposition. The Owls held run-and-gun George Washington (15-14, 9-7) scoreless for the first five minutes of the first and second halves, and handed the Colonials their biggest loss ever in a home game.

Temple also put the clamps on SirValient Brown, bidding to become the first true freshman to lead the nation in scoring. Brown, averaging 22 shots and almost 25 points a game, made only three of 13 shots in scoring nine points--the first time he hasn’t been in double digits this season.

What impressed George Washington Coach Tom Penders most, however, was the outside shooting of Temple, which made 11 of 17 three-point attempts.

“They were knocking down threes left and right,” Penders said. “That was my worst nightmare.”

Quincy Wadley was the sharpest shooter for Temple, making six of seven three-point shots in scoring a game-high 21 points.

Wadley, however, wasn’t as hot as Chaney, still seething over a newspaper story that led to the suspension of center Kevin Lyde.

Lyde was suspended for the game while the university investigates possible NCAA rules violations regarding a summer class that Lyde took in high school, which was allegedly paid for by an Amateur Athletic Union coach. After the game, Chaney vented his anger at the NCAA and questioned the Washington Post’s decision to break the story months after uncovering the possible infraction.

“If there was a book that had every profane word you could think of, I would put them in a couple of--you would need more than one--trash can[s] and heave it onto the NCAA,” Chaney said in a postgame tirade. “It is truly unbelievable. Why don’t they go back to the crib. Why don’t they go back and see if the kid changed his diapers in the crib? I’ve never heard of this rule.”

Chaney then questioned the Post’s tactics, pointing out the interview with Lyde took place long before the game at George Washington (in October, according to the newspaper).

“I think you need to take a look at the ethics in that,” Chaney said.

Post sports editor George Solomon defended the story, saying that work on a more general story on NCAA infractions prompted the disclosure on Lyde.

No. 2 Cincinnati 84, Saint Louis 41--Kenyon Martin scored 23 points at Cincinnati as the Bearcats (28-2, 16-0 in Conference USA) figure to move into the No. 1 spot for the third time this season with Stanford’s loss to UCLA. Cincinnati went unbeaten in conference for the first time in its history. Saint Louis is 15-13 and 7-9.

No. 4 Duke 90, North Carolina 76--Shane Battier had 30 points at Durham, N.C., as the Blue Devils (24-4, 15-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) swept the regular-season series from the Tar Heels (18-12, 9-7) for only the fourth time in 36 years.

No. 6 Ohio State 82, Minnesota 72--George Reese, a valuable senior sixth man, tied his career high with 25 points at Minneapolis as the Buckeyes (22-5, 13-3) clinched a share of the Big Ten championship with Michigan State. Ohio State will be seeded No. 1 in next week’s Big Ten tournament. Minnesota (12-15, 4-12) has lost six in a row.

No. 7 Michigan State 114, Michigan 63--Mateen Cleaves set Big Ten assist records for a game (20) and career (769) at East Lansing as the Spartans (23-7, 13-3) stretched their home winning streak to 28 and gained a share of their third consecutive Big Ten regular-season championship. Charlie Bell had a career-high 31 points in Michigan State’s most-decisive Big Ten victory ever. Michigan is 15-12 and 6-10.

No. 10 Iowa State 75, Baylor 54--Marcus Fizer had 34 points at Waco, Texas, as the Cyclones (26-4, 14-2) clinched the Big 12 regular-season championship--their first conference title since 1945. Fizer, the Big 12 scoring leader at 22.5 points a game, has 30 points or more in four of the last five games. Baylor is 13-14 and 4-12.

No. 11 Tennessee 83, Georgia 66--Vincent Yarbrough had 20 points at Athens, Ga., as the Volunteers (24-5, 12-4) earned a share of the Southeastern Conference championship with Florida, Kentucky and Louisiana State. Tennessee, with a 4-1 record against those three teams, will be seeded No. 1 in next week’s SEC tournament. Georgia is 10-19 and 3-13.

No. 12 Louisiana State 64, Mississippi 60--Lamont Roland’s two free throws with 24 seconds remaining at Baton Rouge, La., accounted for the final points for the Tigers (25-4, 12-4). Stromile Swift, averaging 16.8 points, had nine points after scoring 18 to lead LSU’s 42-point victory over Mississippi (17-12, 5-11) at Oxford, Miss., on Feb. 16.

No. 21 Oklahoma 59, No. 13 Oklahoma State 56--The Sooners (24-5, 12-4) beat the Cowboys (23-5, 12-4) at Stillwater, as Nolan Johnson scored 21 points and held Desmond Mason--the Big 12’s third-leading scorer at 18.6 points a game--to six points and no field goals. Oklahoma’s Eduardo Najera, the Big 12’s second-leading scorer at 18.9 points, had only nine points.

No. 15 Tulsa 83, Southern Methodist 78--Tony Heard made a three-point shot with 0.5 seconds left to force overtime, then made two free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining in the second extra period at Dallas as the Golden Hurricane (27-3, 12-2) won the Western Athletic Conference championship. Southern Methodist is 21-7 and 9-5.

No. 16 Texas 99, Kansas State 70-- Darren Kelly, averaging 9.8 points a game, scored a career-high 33 points for the Longhorns (22-7, 13-3 in the Big 12) at Manhattan, Kan. Kansas State (9-18, 2-14) finished last in the Big 12.

Virginia 89, No. 17 Maryland 87--Adam Hall made two free throws to force overtime, then had a decisive three-point basket with 25.8 seconds left in the extra period to help the Cavaliers (19-10, 9-7 in the ACC) solidify their hopes for an NCAA tournament bid at Charlottesville, Va. Maryland (22-8, 11-5) was outscored, 11-4, in the final 3:17 of regulation.

No. 22 Kentucky 85, No. 8 Florida 70--Tayshaun Prince had 19 points for the Wildcats (22-8, 12-4 in the SEC) at Lexington, Ky. The loss by Florida (23-6, 12-4) created a four-way tie for the regular-season title.

No. 24 Connecticut 69, No. 9 Syracuse 54--Khalid El-Amin scored 19 points, including consecutive three-point baskets in a 14-0 second-half run at Hartford Conn., as the Huskies (21-8, 10-6) kept the Orangemen (24-4, 13-3) from winning the Big East regular-season championship outright. St. John’s (21-6, 12-3) can gain the No. 1 seeding for next week’s Big East tournament with a victory over Miami (19-9, 12-3) today.

No. 25 Illinois 73, Northwestern 44--Cory Bradford scored 20 points at Champaign, Ill., as the Illini (19-8, 11-5 in Big Ten) won for the ninth time in 10 games. Northwestern is 5-24 and 0-16.

OTHER GAMES

Winthrop (21-8) and Samford (21-10) won conference tournaments to reach the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. Greg Lewis had 18 points and 18 rebounds for Winthrop, located in Rock Hill, S.C., in a 76-62 win over host school North Carolina Asheville (11-19) in the Big South final. Samford, located in Birmingham, Ala., was a 78-69 winner over Central Florida (14-18) in the Trans America Athletic Conference final at Jacksonville. . . . Pennsylvania (20-7, 13-0) clinched the Ivy League championship and NCAA berth with its 15th consecutive victory, 69-52, over Yale (7-20, 5-9) at Philadelphia. . . . Utah State (25-5, 16-0) increased the nation’s longest win streak to 16 and became the first school to go undefeated in the Big West since Nevada Las Vegas in 1992 with a 74-62 victory over Boise State (12-15, 6-10) at Logan, Utah. . . . Utah (21-7, 10-4) stretched the nation’s longest home winning streak to 52 and earned the No. 1 seeding for next week’s Mountain West tournament with an 86-63 victory over Air Force (8-19, 4-10) at Salt Lake City. . . . Courtney Alexander, the nation’s leading scorer at 25.7 points a game, scored 24 to lead Fresno State (21-9, 11-3 in the WAC) to a 79-69 home-court victory over Hawaii (16-11, 5-9).