The Temple Owls knocked off Penn St. 66-64 in what was arguably the wildest ending of the NCAA tournament so far. With under twenty seconds left, Nittany Lions guard Talor Batter hit a three pointer from at least 3-4 feet behind the 3-point line to to tie the game at 66. On the ensuing possession, with less than a second to go, Temple point guard Juan Fernandez hit an off balance 18-footer while double team to beat the buzzer and book the Owls place in the second round.
The game started with Talor Battle and Penn State on fire as they surged to a 9 point lead on the back of three early Battle threes. The Nittany Lions scored 20 points in the first 8 minutes of the first half, but Temple's defense tightened and held them to just 13 over the remaining 12 minutes of the half. The Owls would fight back to take a 35-33 halftime lead.
The second half wasn't characterized by the runs of the first half. In fact, neither team would lead by more than three for the rest of the game as the lead changed back and forth.
While Fernandez will deservedly get the headlines after his game winner and 23 point performance, the man that really kept Temple in the game in the second half was Ramone Moore who scored 17 of his 23 in the final frame. Penn State did do a great job of preventing LaVoy Allen from getting the ball in spots where he could score, limiting Temple's best player to just 3 points on 1-7 shooting. However, Allen still had a major influence on the outcome with his game leading 12 rebounds and 4 blocks
It was Temple's first NCAA tournament win since 2001 and broke coach Fran Dunphy's 11 game tournament losing streak. They will take on the winner of the San Diego State/Northern Colorado game.