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Temple takes down Fordham

Mar 4, 2012 - 12:24 AM Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Juan Fernandez scored 19 points, leading five Owls in double figures as No. 23 Temple clinched its first outright Atlantic 10 regular season title since the 1989-90 campaign with an 80-60 triumph over Fordham.

The Owls posted an Atlantic-10 best 14-2 mark during the 1999-2000 season, but since the conference then had two divisions, it wasn't considered an outright crown.

Moore had 16 points to go with six assists and four steals while Khalif Wyatt added 10 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals for Temple (24-6, 13-3 A-10), which shot 52.5 percent from the floor and nailed 6-of-13 attempts from beyond the arc.

"I think it's a terrific achievement under interesting circumstances with Scootie (Randall) not playing and Micheal (Eric) only playing 13 games," Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said of the outright regular season title.

The Owls won 13 of their last 14 games to close the regular season.

Chris Gaston led the Rams (10-19, 3-13) with 18 points and nine rebounds. Fordham finished the regular season by dropping seven of its last eight games and did not qualify for the Atlantic 10 Tournament next week.

"That's a really good basketball team. Throughout the season, I thought they were the cream of the crop. That's the best we've scored all year, but we had too many turnovers. Good teams like Temple close you out. You're not going to beat a top-25 team by committing 16 turnovers," Fordham head coach Tom Pecora said.

The Owls stormed out of the gates, reeling off the game's first nine points. Rahlir-Hollis Jefferson had an assist and steal before capping the flurry with a layup.

Temple led by as many as 12 before taking a 40-30 lead into the locker room.

Kervin Bristol's jumper cut the Temple deficit to 57-49 midway through the second half, but the Owls used a 14-2 run later in the stanza to put the game away.

Fernandez had five points during the surge, which Aaron Brown capped with a trey to make it 80-57 with 1:32 left.

Game Notes

Temple was 12-of-15 from the foul line...Micheal Eric had 11 points and Hollis-Jefferson netted 10 points for Temple...The Owls turned the ball over just nine times.