Wake Forest University
Temple
Men's Basketball Downs Temple, 73-65
12/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2000
By ROB MAADDI
AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA - Craig Dawson scored a career-high 23 points and Robert O'Kelley added 20 as No. 6 Wake Forest beat Temple 73-65 Thursday night for the Owls' seventh straight loss, the longest losing streak in coach John Chaney's 19 seasons.
Wake Forest is 10-0 for the first time since starting 13-0 in Tim Duncan's senior season four years ago.
The Demon Deacons held their 17th straight opponent to 40 percent shooting or less, and won their 15th straight, dating to last season's NIT championship run - the second-longest winning streak in the country. Michigan State has won 20 in a row.
Temple (4-7) has played one of the toughest schedules in the country, losing twice to top-ranked Duke and to No. 16 Wisconsin last week.
Darius Songaila scored 17 and Josh Shoemaker had four points and 10 rebounds for Wake Forest.
Lynn Greer tied a career-high with 25 points, David Hawkins had 18 and Alex Wesby had 15 for the Owls.
After trailing by as many as 16 in the second half, Temple used an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 55-52 with 5:24 left.
Hawkins scored the first four points and Greer scored the last four during the run as Wake Forest was scoreless for 3:44.
O'Kelley's driving layup gave the Demon Deacons a 59-54 lead with 3:36 left. O'Kelley was fouled on the shot and missed the free throw, but Wake Forest got the rebound and Shoemaker made it 61-54 with a 15-footer.
A slicing layup by Greer cut the deficit to three points, 61-58, with 1:43 left. But O'Kelley scored on a driving layup, and made another layup after Josh Howard blocked a shot by Greer to give Wake Forest a 65-58 lead with 56.1 seconds left.
Temple didn't get closer than four the rest of the way.
Wake Forest shot 8-for-26 from 3-point range, getting a number of open looks early by moving the ball well against Temple's matchup zone. The Owls allowed Wisconsin to hit 14-of-28 3-pointers in a 66-58 loss last week.
Temple briefly held a lead in the early minutes, but Wake Forest quickly erased a 5-4 deficit with a 17-2 run that included four consecutive 3-pointers.
Songaila and Dawson each had 11 points in the first half for the Demon Deacons. Greer also had 11 on 4-of-7 shooting while the rest of the Owls went 3-of-17.
Temple only had nine players in uniform, including senior captain Quincy Wadley, who missed his third straight game with a left shoulder sprain.
Sophomore guard Ron Blackshear asked Chaney for his release last Friday, and freshman forward Carlton Aaron was kicked off the team earlier this month after complaining about his playing time.
The Owls have lost two straight at The Liacouras Center after winning 24 in a row.
