The college basketball season got off to a bang in Philadelphia last night with Temple, Villanova and Drexel all winning.
The No. 22 Temple Owls raised the banner commemorating their third straight Atlantic 10 championship on a night they beat Seton Hall 62-56. Ramone Moore led the Owls with 14 points as star forward Lavoy Allen spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble.
"I don’t know we should be living on that," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "Lavoy’s too valuable a guy for us. I was proud how we managed the second half of the first half. For a first game I was thrilled to get it."
No. 5 Villanova Wildcats downed Bucknell 68-52 as Corey Fisher scored 24 points. His performance reminded coach Jay Wright of an another former Wildcat.
"I think Fish in the second half, offensively when he started getting us going gave me a little reminder of Scottie," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "I think the team just needed to see him do what he did tonight and then get confidence. That’s not there yet, but I think it was a start tonight for Fish."
The Drexel Dragons got themselves a big road win with a 75-72 win at Loyola Maryland. Chris Fouch scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half to lead the Dragons.
St Joe's were the lone disappointment as it had a 5-year opening game winning stream snapped with a 98-70 blowout loss to Western Kentucky. The Hawks shot just 33% from the floor and were an awful 6-29 from three.