Thu, Jan 21, 2010 - [Men's Basketball]
Following a tough win (88-83) at Tennessee Wesleyan College on Monday, the Crusaders stumbled at the start to home Scots of Covenant College. Covenant played inspired basketball and outhustled the Crusaders during the early period. Temple also forced some turnovers and could not knock down shot after shot. The Scots took a 8-point lead into halftime.
Following intermission, the re-energized Crusaders came out and applied several variances of scrambling man-to-man defense and re-took the lead early within the 2nd
half. The Crusaders extended the lead to eight points during one stretch in the 2nd half. The Scots kept the game within 6 points in the waning minutes and capitalized on missed shots and turnovers by Temple. After CJ Robinson of Covenant tied the score at 65, the Crusaders spread the court looking to get the last shot. Following a missed shot-attempt, senior, Zach Mouw, crashed the middle and registered the game-winner with 1.4 seconds to go on the clock. The Scots called time out and advanced the ball to the front-court with a pass and another time-out. Their final play was thwarted and the Crusaders captured the first meeting of the 2009-10 season. Covenant will head to Chattanooga on February 19th for Senior Night.
The Crusaders received timely play from Nem Stankovic who had a traditional 3-point play and David Jean-Jacques who provided stellar defense during the 2nd half. Point
guard, Jarrett Smith and Ed-Pellot-Rosa led the Crusaders and Pellot-Rosa pumped in 18 points.
Temple returns to action at McGilvray Gym on Thursday night as they host Oakwood College from Huntsville, Alabama. Oakwood is 9-6 on the season and is ranked #1 in the USCAA. The USCAA is comprised of colleges that have enrollments of under 1,000 students. Following Thursday, the Crusaders head to Pippa Passas, Kentucky to take on Alice Lloyd College.