A-10 Championships: Bonnies fall to Owls in conference quarterfinal

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The chant was predictable.Temple's Lavoy Allen and Michael Eric had once again teamed up to systematically dissect St. Bonaventure's man-to-man defense for another uncontested lay-in.

"It's too easy," came the vocal opinion from the 150 or so students clad in cherry and white behind the Bonnies' second-half basket.

The Brown and White didn't exactly do much to keep the Philadelphia students entertained for the remainder of the game, either.

"This is boring," came the Temple students' serenading with 8:59 to play after Ramone Moore's converted give-and-go with Allen put the Owls ahead 58-40, en route to a 69-51 win this afternoon at Boardwalk Hall in quarterfinal action of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Temple (27-5) did exactly what a No. 1 seed - and No. 17 (ESPN/USA Today) team in the country - should do to a No. 8 seed, and team nearly 150 spots behind it in the RPI: dominate.

The Owls flew out to a 24-8 start not even nine minutes into the game, and the Bonnies (15-16) got no closer than seven the rest of the game.

"I give all the credit to Temple; they're a terrific team," head coach Mark Schmidt said while emphasizing the Owls' defensive prowess. "We didn't get off to a great start . in order to beat Temple we had to be kicking on all cylinders, and we weren't."

The Bonnies tried to get the cylinders turning from the outset by establishing A-10 All-Conference second-team member Andrew Nicholson in the low blocks, but Temple's All-Conference first-teamer Allen would have none of it. He repeatedly directed Nicholson - who took six of his 18 field goal attempts in the game's first five minutes - into contested shots, blocked two and even forced up an air ball from the Mississauga, Ontario native.

"It all starts with knowing what our opponents' strengths are," Allen said of the key to the Owls' defensive success. "Me and Michael (Eric) did a good job today on Andrew Nicholson. It's all about talking and playing help defense."

That defense, which held the Bonnies to their second-lowest point total of the year, keyed the Temple offense, specifically guard Juan Fernandez.

Fernandez paced the Temple attack by either scoring or assisting on seven of the Owls first 10 buckets - scores which catapulted them to that 24-8 lead. But Fernandez, known primarily for his deft shooting ability - he leads the A-10 in 3-point shooting percentage at 45 percent - utilized his vision more than ever before on the college hardwood.

"In addition to him shooting and making shots, he's (Fernandez) our best playmaker," third-year Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said of his sophomore Argentinean, who tied a career high with seven assists to go along with his game-high 17 points.

Much like the Bonnies' inside-outside combo of Nicholson and Chris Matthews, Fernandez's partner for much of the afternoon, and year, was Allen, who finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds. But much like Fernandez, Dunphy praised his 6-foot-9-inch forward's vision.

"We have that weapon of a Lavoy kind of guy who we can throw it down to and he'll see his teammates greatly," Dunphy said of Allen, who finished with three assists - more than any Bona player save for Malcolm Eleby, who also finished with three.

While that's a slightly ominous stat, the Bonnies can find a beacon of light in the person of Demetrius Conger. Last year, Schmidt said his team's first-round exit to Richmond was a good building block for freshmen Michael Davenport and Nicholson. The same principle can be applied for Conger this year.

The freshman came off the bench to play 18 minutes - 15 of them in the second half - netted a career-tying 10 points, and pulled down six rebounds - second on the team only to Nicholson's seven.

However, despite Conger's efforts and despite the exploits of Fernandez and Allen, Temple won this game on the defensive side of the ball. The Owls patented defense, which ranks sixth in the entire country in field goal percentage defense at 38.1 percent, locked in on Jonathan Hall, holding him to four points - his worst scoring outing this year only ahead of his two-point showing at Mississippi State. It also frustrated Nicholson into 5-of-18 shooting (27 percent), holding him 13 points and breaking a streak of three consecutive 20-point outings.

However, where it did its most damage was on Matthews, who the Bonnies have relied on to carry them through their recent winning stretch. The Owls held Matthews to nine points, his fewest since the Bonnies last outing with Owls seven games ago, in which he also had nine.

Afterwards, Matthews, one of two seniors along with Hall, looked as stoic as ever. He walked into the post-game press conference, head down, headphones draped around his neck, already donning his travel clothes and backpack. He sat at the podium and didn't utter a single word. After Hall answered all the questions directed at both players, Matthews stood up, put on his headphones and walked out.

It was, after all, predictable for someone who had just played his last collegiate game and had been shut down by one of the country's best defenses.