Temple falls to Purdue in Puerto Rico semifinal

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Two crucial fouls arguably denied Temple the chance to play for its first in-season tournament championship for the first time in more than a decade.

Purdue took advantage of those calls and defeated the Owls, 85-77, in Friday afternoon's Puerto Rico Tip-Off semifinal at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico.

The Boilermakers (4-0) advanced to Sunday's 7:30 p.m. final against the winner of Friday night's semifinal between Alabama and Wichita State. The Owls (2-1) will face Friday's semifinal loser in Sunday's 5:30 p.m. third-place game.

"I thought that both teams played really hard," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "I was proud of that from our guys.

"I'm not sure we played our smartest game."

Temple last played for in-season tournament title in 1998.

Juan Fernandez and Micheal Eric both fouled out on calls Owls fans might talk about for a while.

With Temple down by seven, Fernandez fouled Kelsey Barlow with 5 minutes, 42 seconds remaining. It was the senior point guard's fourth foul. Barlow tossed the ball at Fernandez, who threw the ball back to Barlow. The players were called for off-setting technical fouls, so Fernandez was disqualified for picking up his fifth.

"There's no excuse," said Fernandez, who had 12 points. "I shouldn't have thrown the ball back. . . . They got in my head. And I wasn't smart enough."

The Owls got back into the game after Ramone Moore's personal 7-0 run knotted the score at 67-all with 3:07 left. But the Boilermakers scored five points on the ensuing possession.

Purdue's Lewis Jackson converted a three-point play. As Jackson made his foul shot, Eric was called for his fifth foul while boxing out Robbie Hummel.

Hummel, Purdue's standout forward, then made a pair of foul shots to make the score 72-67.

"It was a clear box-out that we work on in practice every day," the Temple center said. "I just put a body on him. I think maybe because he was off-balance after I boxed him out, [the referee] felt that he needed to make the call."

The Owls later pulled within three points on Moore's layup with 1:59 left before eventually losing by eight.

"We all need to keep our composure as best as we possibly can," Dunphy said. "I'll wait and see on the film on both [fouls] and see how guilty we were. But those were big plays. And Hummel stepped up and made shots as well at the foul line."

Moore finished with a game-high 27 points. Twenty of the fifth-year senior guard's points came after intermission.

Jackson scored 22 of his career-high 26 points in the second half to lead Purdue. Hummel added 20 points despite making just 1 of 6 from the field after intermission. The 6-8 forward made up for that by converting all six of his foul shots. All of his free throws came in the second half.

Temple reserve guard T.J. DiLeo also fouled out, while guard Khalif Wyatt had four fouls.