Two games tonight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City: Your Temple Owls versus Xavier at 6:30 p.m., with Duquesne playing Dayton in the nightcap at 9. Details, details, details after the jump.

The Owls (20-11) won yesterday’s quarterfinal with Saint Joe’s despite Dionte Christmas’ seven points on 1-for-10 shooting. Ryan Brooks had 19 points, while Sergio Olmos, Semaj Inge and Craig Williams all added 12. But that’s not going to happen all the time: Brooks, after all, had been 0-for-10 in the Owls’ previous two meetings against the Hawks (17-15), who have now lost five in a row against the gang from North Broad Street. But here’s the key: Lavoy Allen had nine points and 13 rebounds even though he had sprained an ankle in practice on Tuesday, according to Jeff McLane’s account in The Inquirer. Allen is the key, people. Seems if he plays well, the Owls play well — even Owls coach Fran Dunphy has called Allen “the best basketball player on our team,” according to Mike Sielski’s insightful column in The Bucks County Courier Times. But that can be a big if, especially with the injury. The first time Temple played Xavier, the Owls lost 83-74 on Feb. 5. Christmas failed to make a trey and was held to 12 points. Afterward, he called the Muskies’ B.J. Raymond “the greatest defender I faced this year.” He’ll probably see more of that same chasing aggressiveness tonight, which means Brooks, Allen and company will have to repeat their performance from yesterday. It will be tough: Xavier (25-6) is outstanding overall defensively, even in the eyes of coach Sean Miller, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. The game is televised on the Comcast Network (formerly CN8) and can be heard on WPHT-AM 1210.

In the nightcap, No. 3 seed Dayton (26-6) gets surprising No. 7 seed Duquesne (20-11). If that seems odd, it is: Duquesne hasn’t won 20 games since 1981 and hasn’t reached the A-10 semifinals since 1994, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. But last night, the Dukes took down No. 2 seed Rhode Island, 78-74, to get here. They’re kind of a feel-good story, too: Senior leader Aaron Jackson is one of the A-10’s best players, but after that EVERYONE is a freshman or sophomore. EVERYONE. Against Dayton, however, the Dukes have some work to do: The Flyers won both meetings this season — 78-69 in Pittsburgh on Jan. 17 and 74-61 at Dayton on Saturday — and are the A-10’s only other NCAA tournament lock besides the X. That said, Dayton struggled to beat Richmond in last night’s quarterfinals and is down to one true point guard because of injuries, according to the Dayton Daily News. The Flyers were also a dreadful 18-for-37 from the line.

Links: Temple wins, advances to play the X [The Inquirer]
Allen makes all the difference [Bucks County Courier Times]
Xavier-Temple recap from Feb. 5 [Temple University]
X’s Miller likes his D [Cincinnati Enquirer]
Duquesne’s amazing season continues [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Duquesne roster [Duquesne University]
Dayton gets past Richmond … barely [Dayton Daily News]