THE BIZARRE NUMBERS
You can watch a lot of games without seeing one team outscore the other by 30 points from the three-point line. And lose.
La Salle was 11-for-25 from the arc, but just 11-for-41 inside the arc. The Hawks were 1-for-10 from three.
If you said La Salle's interior shooting was affected by C.J. Aiken and the Hawks' overall height, the proof is in the numbers.
PLAY IT AGAIN
With just about everybody back from both teams next season, get set for more games like this.
By the way, SJU is No. 38 in one of the RPI services, getting the Hawks close to NCAA at-large discussion.
BREAK THEM UP
Temple (17-5, 6-2) has now taken over first place in the A-10 after its wire-to-wire, 73-56 win at Rhode Island (5-19, 2-7). The Owls scored the first eight points and ended it quickly.
The Owls have won six straight and are all the way up to No. 19 in the RPI, making them an NCAA lock. They shot 51.8 percent and had just seven turnovers.
Ramone Moore, making a serious run at A-10 Player of the Year, scored 22 points. Running mate Khalif Wyatt had 16. Aaron Brown came off the bench to get 15 points while missing just one shot.
THE SERIES
When the calendar turned, the four games among Temple, La Salle and St. Joe's looked fascinating. So far, Temple is 2-0, St. Joe's 1-1 and La Salle 0-2. Temple still has to go to SJU and La Salle.
The City Series is down to Temple (2-0) and St. Joe's (2-1). If Temple loses Feb. 22 at La Salle, St. Joe's could win it outright with a win over the Owls on Feb. 25. If Temple wins at La Salle, the best the Hawks can do is a share. If Temple wins both, it's a sweep, which will actually be 6-0 since the Owls have already won four games against Big 5 teams (only two counted officially).
GETTING SERIOUS
