Feb. 13, 2000

Box Score

By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Lamont Barnes scored 23 points and Lynn Greer had all 14 of his in the second half as No. 19 Temple beat No. 23 Maryland 73-65 Sunday in a February non-conference game played with the intensity of a March tournament matchup.

The Owls (18-4) won their ninth straight game - and 20th in a row at home - by holding Maryland to 38 percent shooting (24-for-63) while forcing 27 turnovers with their variety of zone defenses.

The Terrapins (17-7), who were coming off their upset at No. 3 Duke, had no answer down the stretch as Temple started pulling away.

Greer, who was 2-for-11 from the field in his last game and 0-for-5 in the first half of this one, scored 10 straight points for Temple as it took the lead for good. His consecutive 3-pointers made it 53-49 with 7:23 left.

Consecutive jumpers by Mark Karcher, who finished with 18 points, gave the Owls a 59-54 lead with 4:33 left. Maryland got within 64-60 on a rebound basket by Terence Morris with 59 seconds left, but the Owls went 9-for-10 from the free throw line over the final 52 seconds.

Morris finished with 17 points - 11 in final six minutes - and 12 rebounds for the Terrapins, who had won four straight games and six of seven. Juan Dixon had 21 points for Maryland, which finished with a 48-30 rebound advantage, while Lonny Baxter had 11.

The 27 turnovers were one off Maryland's season high.

Barnes had been struggling lately, breaking double figures just twice in the last nine games with a high of 14 against Virginia Tech.

Pepe Sanchez had five points, 11 assists and a career-high nine steals for the Owls, who lead the nation in scoring defense at 53.9 points per game and are second in field goal percentage defense at 35.1.

Temple used a 14-0 run to take a 27-20 lead, but Maryland answered with a 10-0 run. The game was tied 30-30 at halftime, only the third time this season a team reached 30 points at the half against Temple.

Before the game, Temple's building was renamed from the Apollo to the Peter J. Liacouras Center after the school's president who is retiring on June 30.