OPINION: CMU continues learning experience
McGuirk Arena opened up with a bang Wednesday night.
Lights flashed, fans went crazy. I must say it was a pretty spectacular show. But the Temple Owls finally showed up and shut the party down.
CMU came out with a fire underneath them. Feeding off the atmosphere and the crowd, the Chippewas quickly jumped out to a 12-5 lead early in the game. It seemed for most of the first half that things were simply meant to be.
Temple could not buy a bucket, and senior forward Jalin Thomas was knocking down shots from every direction. With nine and a half minutes remaining, freshman Trey Zeigler found Thomas for three-pointer. Immediately, you could tell it would be a special night for Thomas.
He finished the first half with 17 points and shot 3-for-5 from behind the arch. Coming into the game Thomas was 6-22 on the season from three point range, this was not the same Thomas the team has seen so far this year.
The second half started just like the first half left off, another three from Thomas. A 7-2 run early in the third quarter put the Chippewas up 10 points, and for the moment it seemed that this would be a game CMU could take control of.
But it was just a matter of time.
Temple started to knock down shots and its size down low began to take over. Lavoy Allen, a 6-foot, 9-inch senior from Temple was too much for the Chippewas to handle. He posted the games only double-double and had four offensive rebounds. Allen and teammate Scootie Randall combined for nine offensive rebounds in the game.
The Chippewas were simply overmatched with size and strength down low. Temple was pounding the glass and wearing down CMU. Fatigue seemed to set in near the end of the game as a 20-9 run over an 11 minute span gave the Owls a 63-53 lead with just over a minute to play.
The Chippewas were outrebounded 22-7 in the second half. When that happens, you can’t expect to win.
The offense struggled with minimal ball movement, and at times CMU could not even get into offensive sets because of Temple’s suffocating defense. Zeigler struggled throughout the entire second half and seemed to get de-attached from game at moments, finishing with just five points and two rebounds. Thomas finished with a game-high 26 points on 6-8 shooting from three point range.
But this is a young team.
A team that for more than half of the game, showed a spark and glimpses of what fans can hope to see in the future.
If this team can find that chemistry on both sides of the ball, the rest of the Mid-American Conference better watch out.
