Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Temple’s close to clinching A-10 title outright, leaving on top

spt-120229-temple

Mike Miller

Temple’s overdue to win the Atlantic 10 outright – it hasn’t done that since 2000 – and it may finally do that before it bolts to the Big East.

The No. 23 Owls blew a 10-point lead at the end of regulation before Khalif Wyatt’s game-winning layup in the final seconds of regulation sealed a 90-88 win Wednesday against UMass.

The victory gives them at least a share of the A-10 with one game left. It also makes them the top seed for the A-10 tourney, something they’ve won three times under coach Fran Dunphy.

But a regular-season crown, just Temple? That’d be nice. No sharing with Xavier, no “division” titles and certainly not splitting with St. Louis this season. All it takes is a win Saturday at Fordham, the A-10’s worst team. (I’m sure the Owls would happily accept a Billikens loss at Duquesne, too.)

If Michael Eric is on hand, I’m sure Temple will pull it off, too.

The Owls (23-6, 12-3 in A-10) have lost just twice this season with the 6-10 center in the lineup, both of which were road games. At Purdue and at rival St. Joe’s. Gonna call this a lock.

Meanwhile, the Big East move may be on hold for now – the school’s Board of Trustees canceled Wednesday’s meeting – but the school is still expected to fill the spot in the conference that West Virginia’s move is opening. Be good to go out on top.

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.