Temple Receives Boost From Wadley

With senior point guard Pepe Sanchez out because of a sprained ankle, senior guard Quincy Wadley had to improve his shooting. He did, and 17th-ranked Temple defeated Villanova, 69-66, Wednesday at Philadelphia.

Wadley, who had scored only 28 points all season on seven-of-46 shooting, scored all 17 of his points in the first half and the Owls (4-2) hung on against the Wildcats (3-2).

“I had just been shooting bad. I was trying to force the action,” said Wadley, who averaged 8.0 points as a sophomore and 9.2 last season. “Mark [Karcher] and Lynn [Greer] had been carrying us and I felt I had to step up and my teammates’ confidence got me in the flow of the game.”

Sanchez, the team leader who has played in only one game this season, is expected to be out another three to four weeks and Temple showed it needed his court leadership down the stretch.

“I had to call two timeouts in the last minute because they were running around with their heads cut off and they didn’t know what they were doing,” Temple Coach John Chaney said. “I don’t have to do that when Pepe is out there. Pepe can deliver breakfast, lunch and supper to everyone in this room.”

No. 14 Oklahoma St. 79, Alcorn St. 53--Desmond Mason scored 23 points and the Cowboys forced 28 turnovers as they defeated the Braves at Stillwater, Okla.

Oklahoma State (8-0) relied on its pressure defense in forcing Alcorn State (3-5) into 20 first-half turnovers. Oklahoma State was credited with 17 steals, including 13 in the first half. Brian Montonati had six steals, all in the first half.

No. 25 Wake Forest 71, N.C.-Greensboro 62--Darius Songaila scored 17 points and Robert O’Kelley added 10 second-half points as the Demon Deacons held off the Spartans at Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Demon Deacons (6-1) held a 10-point lead with 3:01 left in the game, but the Spartans (5-2) cut the deficit to 67-62 with 49.6 seconds left on Courtney Eldridge’s layup. The Spartans failed to score the rest of the way, and the Demon Deacons were four of six from the free-throw line in the final 45 seconds.

Oregon State 78, Eastern Washington 62--Jason Heide had 21 points and Josh Steinthal sparked a second-half surge to help the Beavers to a victory over the Eagles at Corvallis, Ore.

The Beavers (6-2) won for the fourth time in five games. Oregon State led, 41-40, when Ryan Hansen hit a jumper with 16:58 remaining to give Eastern Washington (2-5) the lead. But over the next 3:30, the Beavers went on a 13-2 run to go in front, 54-44, with Steinthal scoring 11 of those points and assisting on a basket by Heide.

WOMEN

No. 7 Texas Tech 85, Lamar 41--Plenette Pierson scored 21 points as the Red Raiders (7-0) routed the Cardinals (4-4) at Lubbock, Texas.

No. 17 Arizona 78, N. Illinois 46--Tatum Brown scored 17 points as the Wildcats (9-0) routed the Huskies (1-7) at Tucson, Ariz.

No. 13 Louisiana State 73, SMU 56--Katrina Hibbert scored 24 points as the Tigers (7-1) extended their winning streak to seven games with a victory over the Mustangs (3-4) at Baton Rouge, La.