ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602020070
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
Maybe they'll fall at Virginia Tech in two weeks.
Perhaps someone will knock them off in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.
Or maybe nobody is going to beat Massachusetts, and the Minutemen are going to remain unbeaten right through the NCAA Tournament.
The nation's top-ranked team continued its perfection with a 59-35 victory over Temple at McGonigle Hall on Thursday night. Massachusetts (20-0 overall, 8-0 A-10) handled its toughest road test of the season with aplomb, as the Minutemen crept to a 30-12 lead at the half and totally befuddled the Owls' offensive scheme.
Temple made a puny 20.6 percent of its field-goal attempts.
It wasn't supposed to be that easy. Temple (11-8, 7-1 in the East Division) beat the Minutemen here a year ago, and it was an Owls defeat of Kansas on Dec. 22 that allowed Massachusetts to take over the No. 1 ranking.
Temple got within eight, at 36-28, with 11:28 to go, but Massachusetts held the Owls without a basket over the next five minutes during an 11-2 run.
Junior center Marcus Camby, in his third game back after a four-game absence that followed his collapse for reasons which remain undiagnosed, had 15 points and nine blocks for the Minutemen, and Carmelo Travieso had a game-high 16 points.
The only casualty for Massachusetts was Donta Bright's A-10 record free throw streak. The senior forward made his first of the night, stretching his record to 40 in a row, but missed his next two.
Temple made a game of it for seven minutes, but then the Minutemen collapsed on Jackson and dared the Owls to shoot from the perimeter, something they were woefully unequipped to do. His teammates were a combined 1-for-19 for the first half, and for the last 15:57 of the half Jackson was the only Temple player to score.
Jackson, a 6-foot-10 sophomore who was suspended for the Owls' previous game after he had decked Duke's Greg Newton with an elbow to the head, used his 270 pounds to back in on Camby for four baskets and keep Temple within 13-10.
Massachusetts scored the next six points, however, and after another power move by Jackson with 5:52 to go, the Minutemen ran off the last 11 points of the half, including a pair of threes from the right side by Carmelo Travieso in the final 1:16.
Within the span of 54 seconds, Camby displayed his myriad skills on successive trips down the floor. First, he beat Jackson on a game of backboard volleyball and dunked for a follow basket, then hit an 18-footer from the left baseline.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines KEYWORDS: BASKETBALLby CNB