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Tigers Nip Temple to Advance to NIT Title Game
By RICK FREEMAN
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) � With Dajuan Wagner on his team, John Calipari's job is
easy.
With less than a minute to play Tuesday night and the Tigers facing their
second straight NIT semifinal loss, Calipari told Wagner: ``Dajuan, make a
play.''
Wagner, who finished with 32 points, complied. He drove the lane and fed
Kelly Wise for a dunk with 18.6 seconds left to put Memphis in the finals
with a 78-77 victory over Temple.
``That was great coaching strategy,'' Calipari said. ``Give him the ball
and get out of his way.''
The Tigers (26-9) will play the winner of the late game between Syracuse
and South Carolina.
Temple, out of timeouts, took three shots at the end, two by David
Hawkins and one by Kevin Lyde, but couldn't put away a game in which it
erased deficits of 12 and six points.
``I lost the game,'' said Lyde, who finished with 16 points. ``I'm
supposed to make that shot. I didn't.''
Alex Wesby led the Owls with 25 points, Brian Polk had 15 and Hawkins 14.
With 10 minutes to play, Temple reclaimed the lead for the first time
since 11:56 remained in the first half when Polk sank a 3-pointer that made
it 55-54.
The Owls got out to a 61-56 lead, but Wagner converted a three-point
play, and later made an NBA-range 3-pointer to give the Tigers a six-point
margin of their own, at 71-65. The Owls quickly tied the game again at 71
with 3:09 left.
The Owls (18-15) were without injured top scorer Lynn Greer, who averaged
23.2 points for them. They had beaten crosstown rival Villanova in the
quarterfinals without him, but the Owls � their big men, especially �
appeared to miss the open space his long-distance shooting usually gave
them.
In the absence of Greer, who has an ankle injury, Owls coach John Chaney
wanted his shooters � Hawkins and Polk � to take more shots.
``I got (angry) at Polk,'' Chaney said. ``Once you get in the paint, they
have a license to shoot.
``Sometimes I don't think he knows what he does. He doesn't take open
shots when he gets them. He decides to drive when he's open. It really
(upsets me.)''
Calipari noted the absence of Greer.
``When you take away a team's star player, it's like you're playing a
team that's circling the wagons,'' he said.
Wagner's 32 points tied a career high, and he might only have one more
game to set a new mark. He has not yet said if he'll declare for the NBA
draft.
Last month, he publicly said he would stay at Memphis, only to have
Calipari tell him to wait on his decision. For now, the two have one more
game to win.
Before knowing who he'd play in Thursday's final, someone asked Calipari
about his strategy for the game.
He knew how to answer.
``When you have a good player, this isn't brain surgery,'' he said.
Later in the evening, South Carolina claimed a 66-59 win over Syracuse in
the other semifinal and will challenge the Tigers Thursday in Madison Square
Garden for the NIT championship.
Copyright 2001
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bonesville.net
contributed to this report.
02/23/2007 10:47:37 AM
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