Temple tops Wichita St. for 3d in tourney

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Third-place teams usually don't experience the same satisfaction that comes with winning a championship.

However, Temple was content with Sunday's 78-74 overtime victory over Wichita State in the third-place game at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

"This was a great win for us," Owls coach Fran Dunphy said of the game, played at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico. "Anytime you can find a way to scratch and claw and win a game like this, I think it helps your team.

"I thought our loss to Purdue [in the tourney semifinals] helped as well in a different way. I'm happy to be coming out of here with two victories."

The Owls (3-1) owe the win to Ramone Moore, Khalif Wyatt, and Juan Fernandez. Despite missing five of his previous six shot attempts, Fernandez's three-pointer knotted the score at 64 with 43 seconds remaining in regulation.

Shockers guard Toure Murry misfired on an ill-advised shot at the other end of the court on the ensuing possession. Then Wyatt missed a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime.

But Wyatt made up for that by combining with Moore to score 12 of Temple's 14 overtime points.

It didn't take long for Moore to get things started in the extra session. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard's layup, while getting fouled, gave Temple a 68-66 cushion and the lead for good just three seconds into overtime.

"I thought it was a good job by [center Micheal Eric] to get a good tip to [forward] Rahlir [Hollis-Jefferson]," Moore said of the play. "I saw that I had an open lane. So Rahlir made a good pass, and I just made a good finish."

The fifth-year senior went on to score four more of his team-high 23 points in overtime. Wyatt scored six of his 13 points in the extra session. The junior guard's three-pointer with 2 minutes, 5 seconds left gave Temple an eight-point cushion, 74-66.

The Shockers (2-2) closed the gap to 75-72 on Garrett Stutz's foul shots with 39 seconds remaining. But, after Wyatt's foul shot seven seconds later, Eric hit a pair to give the Owls a six-point lead in the closing seconds.

Fernandez finished with 15 points. Eric had 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. Murry, a senior guard, finished with a game-high 24 points.

Owls land recruit. Josh Brown, a junior point guard at St. Anthony High School (N.J.), gave an oral commitment Saturday to play basketball at Temple.

The 6-3, 185-pounder is the Owls' first commitment for the class of 2013.

Brown is a close friend of Temple 2012 signee Quenton DeCosey, a senior forward at St. Joseph in Metuchen (N.J.).  Brown was also reportedly receiving interest from St. Joseph's, La Salle, Cincinnati, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Massachusetts, and Monmouth.

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