College Basketball Roundup : Temple Wins on Rebound, 84-68

You can’t give a team like Temple any second chances.

The eighth-ranked Owls pulled down 21 offensive rebounds while trouncing St. Joseph’s, 84-68, Tuesday night at Philadelphia to reach the championship game of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

Tim Perry had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 7 blocked shots for Temple (30-3). Eight of his rebounds came on the offensive end.

“We knew we could win if we could stop their second shots, and we couldn’t do it,� St. Joseph’s Coach Jim Boyle said. “Perry is so quick. He dominated. He’s the key to their team.�

While Perry controlled the boards, Nate Blackwell scored 14 of his 25 points during a 6 1/2-minute Temple surge in the second half that turned a 49-45 lead into an 18-point blowout.

James Flint had 19 points for St. Joseph’s (16-13).

West Virginia 80, Rhode Island 58--The Mountaineers trounced the Rams at Morgantown, W.Va., to reach the Atlantic 10 title game.

The Mountaineers (23-6) split their season series with Temple, with each team winning at home. West Virginia upset the Owls in the regular-season finale.

Thursday night’s game will be at Temple.

Rhode Island (20-9) beat West Virginia twice during the regular season, but this time fell far short of its average of 81.1 points, which led the conference. The Mountaineers had a 32-13 lead at halftime.

Darryl Prue scored 18 points for West Virginia, and Carlton Owens had 18 for Rhode Island.

Niagara 109, Vermont 90--Joe Calavita had 40 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as the Catamounts fell to the Eagles at Niagara Falls in the opening round of the ECAC North Atlantic Conference tournament.

Joe Arlauckas scored 22 points and Juan Neal added 20 for Niagara (20-8), which registered its first 20-win season since 1972.

Vermont finished 5-23.

San Diego State 93, Hawaii 90--Freshman guard Tony Ross connected on a three-point field goal with nine seconds remaining to lift the Aztecs to victory over the Rainbow Warriors in a first-round Western Athletic Conference tournament game.