Temple squeaks past PSU
TUCSON, Ariz. — Don’t call him “one-and-Dunphy” anymore.
Juan Fernandez sank an off-balance 18-footer with less than a second to play to hand Temple a wild 66-64 victory over Penn State and end coach Fran Dunphy’s NCAA tournament record 11-game losing streak.
“It might have been our time, that’s all,” Dunphy said. “Just our time.”
And a long time coming for one of college basketball’s most respected coaches, whose team advanced to a third-round matchup Saturday against the West’s No. 2 seed, San Diego State.
Fernandez, double-teamed as time was running out, forced up the winning shot off his right foot while fading to his left just inside the 3-point line. The clock read 0.4 seconds as the ball went through the net.
In the timeout that preceded the shot, Temple’s Khalif Wyatt had some advice for his coach: Put the ball in Fernandez’s hands and let him determine the outcome.
“I was thinking about shooting a jump shot but I killed my dribble and (Tim) Frazier was right there,” Fernandez said. “For some reason he jumped over to my right and that gave me the space to go left.”
Frazier gave Fernandez all the credit.
“He drove, picked up the ball,” Frazier said. “I closed out high end so he wouldn’t be able to shoot over me. (He) made a great move, pivoted a couple of times and then stepped through. It was a great shot.”
In their 92nd meeting, neither team had led by more than four points and there were 10 lead changes in an intense second half in the West regional. Talor Battle’s 3-pointer from far behind the arc for Penn State tied it at 64-64 with 12.2 seconds to go.
“That’s what he’s done his whole career,” coach Ed DeChellis said. “He is just a great kid, a very competitive person.”
Battle’s basket would have been an NBA 3-pointer with a few feet to spare.
“Right when I shot, it felt so good,” Battle said. “I saw Reggie Miller and them going nuts, so I figured I was pretty far when I shot.”
It was an ever-so-brief moment of elation for the Penn State star in his last college game.
“I heard Juan Fernandez with a two-point shot,” he said, “and I was just crushed.”
Fernandez and Ramone Moore scored 23 points each for the seventh-seeded Owls (26-7). Battle scored 23 for the 10th-seeded Nittany Lions (19-15) in their first NCAA tournament appearance in a decade.
Dunphy’s teams, first at Penn and the last three at Temple, had lost a tournament record 11 straight games before successfully escaping Thursday’s thriller. Dunphy entered the game 1-12 in NCAA tournament play, his lone victory Penn’s first-round upset of Nebraska in 1994.
“I probably think about it less than others do,” he said, “but you think about it. I would be lying if I said I didn’t. But I’m so thrilled for these kids and so thrilled to be in the tournament. We’ve had a nice run — this particular group, four straight years of going to the NCAA tournament is pretty special.”
The Nittany Lions lost starting forward Jeff Brooks barely a minute into the second half with a dislocated right shoulder, the same injury that sidelined him for 10 days earlier this season.
The Owls scored more points in the first half than Penn State allowed in its 36-33 victory over Wisconsin three games earlier in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.
