Temple 54 UMass 47

In a game that was closer than many expected, Temple edged the Minutemen 54-47. The game was close all the way until two Mark Karcher steals and assists produced a 9-2 Temple run and a 45-37 lead with slightly over 4 minutes remaining. Temple maintained at least a six-point lead the rest of the way. Karcher and Kevin Lyde led Temple in scoring with 15 apiece while Monty Mack had 16 for the Minutemen and Kitwana Rhymer added 12. Upsets of Tennessee and Ohio State give the Owls a chance to make a claim on a #1 seed with a win in the championship game.

At 17-15 UMass will likely receive an NIT bid. Temple will face St. Bonaventure in that championship game. The teams split their two meetings on the year with each winning at home.

St Bonaventure 56 Dayton 50

In a truly ugly game, St Bonaventure made just enough good plays to defeat the Flyers. Dayton came out flat and sluggish, apparently deciding an NCAA bid was in the bag and that they didn’t need to play hard. Decision making was horrendous throughout the game, particularly in the first half when David Morris and Edwin Young combined for 7 turnovers against just 1 assist. The Flyers committed 11 turnovers in the half and were lucky to trail just 27-16. The first half was easily Dayton’s worst 20 minutes of basketball this year, even more horrendous than the second half against Virginia Tech. Dayton came out with more energy in the second half and looked to salvage some pride. A double digit blowout combined with upsets in other tourney finals could have endangered the bid the Flyers thought they sewed up with the win over St Joes. The Flyers competed on the defensive end and forced missed shots and turnovers, but still struggled offensively.

However, a 17-6 run over a nearly 10 minute span produced a 37-36 lead at the 8 minute media timeout. A Tim Winn trey gave the Bonnies the lead, and a JR Bremer strip of Tony Stanley and feed to Winn quickly restored a St Bonaventure 4 point lead. The Flyers continued to hold down St Bonaventure on the defensive end but got absolutely no offensive production. In a nearly 6 minute stretch, the Flyers scored just a single point on a Yuanta Holland free throw. As a result, the Bonnies were able to stretch the lead to 10 at 48-38. A flurry of late threes by Brooks Hall, Tony Stanley, and Yuanta Holland enabled the Flyers to make a late run.

Following a Bonnie turnover at the 30 second mark the Flyers had the ball down 5 at 55-50. But Hall left a three short and Winn converted a free throw for the final margin.

Winn led St Bonaventure with 20 points while Peter Van Passen added 11. Hall with 14 and Stanley with 11 were the only Flyers to get double figures. Despite shooting just 36% for the game the Flyers outrebounded the Bonnies 32-28.

One of the keys to beating the Bonnies is limiting turnovers, and at this the Flyers failed miserably. Not only did Dayton commit 21 turnovers, many were steals at the top resulting in breakouts for the Bonnies. For the game, the point guards combined for 10 turnovers and just 2 assists. St Bonaventure scored 14 points in transition off of Dayton turnovers.

With the loss, Dayton will now hope their 22-8 record with victories at New Mexico, Marquette, and Kentucky are good enough to merit a bid despite some less than stellar play to close out the last three games. Depending on the bracketologist you follow, you will either be nervous and calm, cool and collected, for the next 40 or so hours. Jerry Palm of Collegerpi.com was interviewed on Cincinnati radio Friday afternoon and thought that the Flyers might get a bid with a loss but that it would depend on what happens in other games. Palm thought that whoever won this game would have a leg up on the second bid from the A10 and for the loser to get in it would most likely take the A10 receiving 3 bids. Virginia and North Carolina both losing certainly help on that front, but only if Duke or Maryland win the ACC, DePaul the CUSA and other locks win in the Big 10 and SEC where upsets have been fast and furios. In contrast, Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com and Blue Ribbon considered Dayton a lock regardless of the outcome of the tournament and with the semifinal loss peg the Flyers as a 9 seed.