Buffalo Hands Temple Second Loss

This afternoon's game seemed to be a glimpse of what happened September 13th, only now in Basketball. It might not have been a half court shot, or some sort of buzzer beater, but it was still another heartbreaking loss for the Temple Owls against Buffalo. The final score of this one was 83-73.

Many Owls fans anticipated an easy win in New York this evening, but the Bulls showed that no opponent can be taken easily. Temple, without the services of Lavoy Allen but with returning Sergio Olmos, were unable to maintain a 14 point lead. Statistically, this can be argued as the Owls worst game of the season. Take a look at the difference between the teams' performances:

Rebounding

Temple- 20
Buffalo- 31

Fouls

Temple- 25
Buffalo- 15

It seems that this year we have only seen a trend: it comes in the form of rebounding. The Owls have so far dominated the boards, but both of the year's early losses came with a lack of rebounds. Although the team was without their leading rebounder, Lavoy Allen, they brought back a familiar face in Center Sergio Olmos (one would think that getting their big man back would only make things easier). Temple was held to less than half of their usual average, an in incredibly stunning surprise.

The Owls' other issue in this game was the defense. Buffalo was able to easily penetrate to the hoop, causing a number of problems- including foul trouble. The Bulls went to the foul line 25 times, shooting 80%. Temple was only at the line 11 times, shooting 63%. Hypothetically, if Buffalo went to the FT line 5 less times, we would have had a ball game. Unfortunately that was not the case, and the Owls surrendered their second loss of the season.

Buffalo, on the other hand, had no problem getting the job done. For Junior Guard Calvin Betts (right(, things seemed like a piece of cake. Averaging merely 10 points a game, Betts out hustled the Owls and scored 18 points.

The Owls (3-2) will now have to readjust to the missing presence of Lavoy Allen. Their next opponent is a very talented Miami (OH) team Wednesday, December 3rd.

Go Owls!

* Be sure to check out the first BlogTalkRadio Internet Broadcast tomorrow afternoon at 6:00 pm. The schedule and links to the page can be found at the top right of the site. We'll discuss the Owls first five games of the 2008 season.