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Allen scores 14, No. 19 Temple tops Duquesne

Feb 4, 2010 - 3:13 AM By DAN GELSTON AP Basketball Writer

PHILADELPHIA(AP) -- Trailing 5-0, Temple coach Fran Dunphy was as furious with the Owls as he had been all season. He called a fast timeout and lit into the Owls, his face as cherry red as the stripes on Temple's uniforms.

About two hours later, a considerably calmer Dunphy explained his timeout outburst.

"Pay attention to your details, be focused and rebound with discipline," Dunphy said. "So yeah, I was a little disappointed by that."

He had little to complain about the rest of the way.

Lavoy Allen had 14 points and 15 rebounds and No. 19 Temple again got plenty of points off the bench to beat Duquesne 76-60 on Wednesday night.

Ryan Brooks and Juan Fernandez, Temple's two leading scorers, were non-factors for the second straight game. Dunphy used his key subs, and even a seldom-used one, to lead the Owls (19-4, 7-1 Atlantic 10) to their eighth win in the last nine games.

"It was a statement by the coaches to say we've got to have our act together a little more than we did," Dunphy said.

Temple's bench scored 25 points in the first half. Ramone Moore led the Owls' reserves with 15 points.

Allen, a 6-foot-9 forward, was Temple's lone productive starting scorer. He made some nice spin moves in the paint, two right-handed layups down the lane and stabilized the offense when the other starters couldn't find the basket.

Allen scored six points during Temple's 13-2 run early in the second half that put the Owls in control. They built a 20-point lead without much offense from Brooks (15.9 ppg) or Fernandez (12.6). They combined for 11 points.

The bench bailed out the Owls like they did in Saturday's win against La Salle. Moore hit a string of big baskets to close the first half. Rahlir Jefferson scored 11 points and T.J. DiLeo had seven.

Temple's role players were needed early against the Dukes. Dunphy was nose-to-nose with every rapt Owl in the huddle in that early 30-second timeout before sending them back onto the court.

When the Dukes took a 10-4 lead, an unusually animated Dunphy turned and started clapping in the faces of every bench player.

"Coach just wasn't having it today," Moore said. "He brought the bench in early and whoever made a mistake was coming out. I think we had to get our act together and I think in the second half we did that."

Allen said he'd seen Dunphy blow up before, "but this time was the worst of them all."

Dunphy is about as mild-mannered as any coach. But when the Owls fail to box out and allow easy layups, he won't hold back.

"I think if you came to some of our practices, you'd see another side of me," Dunphy said. "I get very unhappy when I don't think guys are working as hard as they possibly can."

Dunphy turned to DiLeo, who had played only 85 minutes in 15 games this season, to send a message and spark the Owls. DiLeo was a hit in his 14 minutes. He hit a 3-pointer, then stole the ball at midcourt and dunked for a 31-23 lead.

"When he plays, he plays well, and when he doesn't play, you never hear about it," Dunphy said.

His father, Tony DiLeo, is the Philadelphia 76ers assistant general manager/VP of basketball operations.

Moore scored seven of Temple's last nine points of the first half to take a 42-34 lead. The lead would have been bigger except Clark nailed a buzzer-beating 3 for the Dukes that made Dunphy smack his hands in disgust.

Bill Clark and Eric Evans led Duquesne (11-11, 2-6) with 12 points. This was the first game between the teams since last season's A-10 championship game, won by the Owls.

"It was a little disheartening on my end because I didn't think we played that poorly and we still got blown out pretty good," Dukes coach Ron Everhart said.

Temple committed seven turnovers in the first half - an atypical number for a team that ranked sixth nationally in fewest turnovers per game (10.5).

Fernandez sat glumly on the bench with a towel over his shoulder, while Brooks sat nearby with little chance of playing. Brooks and Fernandez, who took a severe blow to the head against Fordham, did not score a point in a combined 8 minutes as the Owls scored their most points in a first half this season.

No worries. The bench had the game under control.

"It's been unbelievable what they've given us," Dunphy said.