Some might be wondering how in the world this happened. After all, back on Jan. 6 up on North Broad Street, Temple treated Saint Joe’s like a high school team. The final was 73-46, and it stood to reason that something similar was going to happen when the teams met Saturday afternoon on 33rd Street. But the Palestra, and its ghosts, wound up having something to say about it. And by the time the smoke cleared, the 8,151 in the house were treated to One Of Those Games. More after the jump.

The teams slugged one another during an ugly first half that ended with Temple ahead by six. And then, with a little more than 13 minutes to go, the Owls went on an 11-1 run. But in the next four minutes, the Hawks came back to tie it at 40. And so it was on. There were eight lead changes in the last eight minutes alone. And then came the frenetic finish — or at least the frenetic finish to regulation, anyway. First, Juan Fernandez made a pair of free throws to put Temple in front, 55-54, with 1:07 to go. But sophomore Chris Prescott knocked down a 3-pointer for Saint Joe’s — his only bucket of the game — to put the Hawks up two. Ryan Brooks came right back up the floor for Temple, though, and tied it with a short jumper. Whew.

At this point, the P felt hot and the mostly Saint Joe’s crowd had been whipped into a frenzy. Just like we all know and love the joint to be.

Saint Joe’s looked to have it won when Garrett Williamson crossed up Brooks — his old high school teammate from Kobe Bryant Lower Merion High — with 5.7 seconds to go. But Lavoy Allen found Ramone Moore on the inbound, and Moore went the distance and converted a coast-to-coast layup with 1.5 ticks on the clock, and we were headed to the extra session knotted at 59.

Fernandez hit a quick 3 for Temple, and after Williamson answered with a layup for the Hawks, Moore — who had another monster game for the Owls — put back Brooks’ missed 3, and Temple never looked back.

This one was filled with big moments from numerous players. Moore, first and foremost, has come into his own as another scoring option for the Owls. He had a career-high 24 points (on 11-for-18 shooting), plus nine rebounds and three assists. And zero turnovers. It was the sixth straight game in which Moore has scored in double figures. His emergence has been so sudden — and so recent — that Hawks coach Phil Martelli admitted he wasn’t even in the scouting report heading into last month’s meeting. Clearly, as that link to Mike Sielski’s column for phillyBurbs says, Moore’s ability to score could make Temple quite dangerous when the stakes get bigger next month. So we’ll see.

Saint Joe’s, of course, continues to struggle. But just as they did in December’s close loss to Villanova, the Hawks put forth a tremendous effort on Saturday. Darrin Govens, whose scoring touch more or less determines whether Saint Joe’s will be in a game or not, finished with 21 points. Williamson, arguably the best defender in the city, had a cereer-high 20. And Carl Jones, the exuberant and explosive 5-11 freshman, had 16 points and a team-high eight boards.

All of it, really, was something to see. And we’re glad we did.

Temple (22-5, 10-2 A-10, 3-0 Big 5) has clinched a share of the Big 5 title and is just one-half game behind Richmond (22-6, 11-2) in the A-10 standings. Dayton (18-8, 7-5), which just lost to Duquesne on the road Sunday, comes to North Broad Street on Wednesday.

Saint Joe’s (9-18, 3-10 A-10, 1-2 Big 5) is at Charlotte (18-8, 8-4) on Wednesday.

Link: Moore could mean a lot more for Temple [phillyBurbs.com]