Fordham

NEW YORK - Temple's win over Fordham won't be a victory the selection committee holds in high regard when it evaluates the Owls' resume next weekend. And that's not a bad thing. Wednesday night's game really only stood to potentially hurt the Owls, as a loss to the Rams would've been devastating to their at-large chances. A win really just kept the status quo. But that surely beats the alternative. Temple avoided a devastating loss as it easily took care of Fordham, 74-55, in front of a sparse crowd at Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx.

By halftime of last night's Atlantic Ten Conference game at Rose Hill Gym, sad-sack Fordham could select from a number of telling statistics that St. Joseph's had compiled to damage the Rams' faded hopes for an upset. Was it the 20 points scored by Delonte West, the Hawks' sizzling sophomore guard, on 8-for-10 shooting from the field? Was it the nine three-point baskets St. Joe's had made? Was it the 14 turnovers the aggressive Hawks had squeezed out of Fordham's jittery ballhandlers?

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - We missed you last night at the Izod Center. The same Meadowlands facility that witnessed the unbridled insanity of the New Jersey Devils' winning two of their three Stanley Cups was a sea of empty seats for visiting Temple's win over Fordham. At times, it was so quiet, you could almost hear Jimmy Hoffa stirring. Temple matched the apathy in the stands to start the game, but eventually the Owls got their legs under them and rolled to a 70-51 victory in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams.

Temple matched its best 20-game start in 16 years with a 62-45 victory at Fordham yesterday. But Owls coach Fran Dunphy is not ready to make a comparison between his squad and the likes of Eddie Jones and Aaron McKie, who starred for the 1993-94 team. "I would prefer to evaluate who we are and where we are at the end of the season," Dunphy said after the 16th-ranked Owls improved to 17-3, 5-0 in the Atlantic Ten, thanks to a strong second half against the weakest outfit in the league.

St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli had this feeling before yesterday's game, a feeling that drove the worrisome nature of his coaching side to a higher-than-usual pitch. And that's high. "I just had a feeling, I don't know, that we might be a little bit flat," he said after his team's 88-78 victory over Fordham. When Martelli's Hawks were locked in a 72-72 tie in the Atlantic Ten Conference game, and when Marvin O'Connor's three-point attempt rimmed out of the hoop with the game narrowed down to crunch time, many of the 3,200 spectators inside Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse must have had a feeling approaching nausea.

Steve Lappas completed his Villanova coaching staff yesterday by hiring Paul Hewitt, an assistant coach for the last two seasons at Fordham. Fordham's head coach, Nick Macarchuk, had been one of four finalists for the head-coaching job at Villanova that went to Lappas last month. Earlier, Lappas hired John Leonard, who was one of Lappas' top assistants last season at Manhattan. Leonard and Hewitt will be Villanova's two full-time assistant coaches. Former Wildcat player Steve Pinone will be Lappas' part- time assistant, as he was last season at Manhattan.

Willie Haynes scored 18 points, including three crucial free throws in the final two minutes, to lead St. Peter's to a 62-61 victory over Manhattan last night in a first-round Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament game in Jersey City, N.J. Forward Chuck Veterano, a product of Philadelphia's Roman Catholic High, led the Peacocks with 22 points. St. Peter's (21-7), the No. 2 seed in the tournament, will play third- seeded Iona (15-15) in a semifinal game at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. The Gaels, who beat St. Peter's twice during the regular season, advanced with a 76-63 victory over Holy Cross (13-15)

La Salle's basketball team showed no rust after a week off from action. In fact, the Explorers were in record-tying form when it came to shooting. The Explorers equaled a school record for three-point field goals in a game with 18 during Saturday's 89-53 Atlantic Ten rout of Fordham at Tom Gola Arena. O.J. Lewis tied the record, hitting the Explorers' 18th three-pointer with 5 minutes, 6 seconds left in the game. The Explorers (16-6, 6-3 A-10), who were 18 for 33 from beyond the arc, missed two three-point attempts after that.

As an NBA coach, Bob Hill was willing to put up with Dennis Rodman's antics. As a college coach, he's not so tolerant of such behavior. On the eve of Fordham's first-round game in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, Hill suspended his leading scorer, sent one of his biggest bench contributors home to Argentina, and let the chips fall where they may. They fell, not surprising, in Virginia Tech's direction. The Hokies (16-14), coincidentally playing without their leading scorer also because of a suspension, just slipped past the Rams, 51-48, to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with sixth-ranked Temple at noon today at the First Union Spectrum.

Dave Clawson feels nothing but fondness for Villanova, and not just because it's the place where he completed his apprenticeship before accepting his first job as a head football coach at Fordham following the 1998 season. Clawson and his wife, Catherine, were married by the Rev. Bernard Lazor, a member of the Villanova faculty and chaplain of the football team. Wildcats defensive coordinator Joe Trainer and his wife are the godparents of the Clawsons' daughter, Courtney. He talks with Villanova head coach Andy Talley every week or two. "I have a lot of good friends there," Clawson said yesterday from his Fordham office.