Monarchs Bounce Back To Top Temple 78-63 In Diamond Head Classic

HONOLULU, HI. – After a tough 48 hours in Hawaii, the Old Dominion men's basketball team needed a solid performance on Friday afternoon in the Diamond Head Classic. Consider it achieved.
 
Vasean Allette paced four in double figures with 24 points and a season high eight rebounds as the Monarchs bounced back with a 78-63 win over Temple in the consolation round at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sherriff Center.
 
"Our guys played fabulous. They battled, competed and trusted each other," said ODU Interim Head Coach Kieran Donohue. "They did all the things we talked about on a quick turn where you don't have much prep, coming off a loss and a rough couple days in a lot of different ways, our guys were really excited to play together and it showed."
 
ODU (4-7) snapped a four-game losing skid and now will face the winner of UMass and Portland on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. EST for fifth place on ESPN2.
 
Temple opened the game with a pair of three-pointers from Steve Settle and Matteo Picarelli, but ODU worked back and evened the contest at 10-all on a driving layup by Tyrone Williams at 15:17 mark. The Monarchs took their first lead as Imo Essien grabbed a defensive rebound and took it in for a pull up jumper with 10:52 remaining and a 14-13 lead.
 
ODU went on a 7-0 spurt as Chaunce Jenkins hit a layup, a 3-pointer and Jason Wade answered with a layup to push the lead to 31-25 with 99 seconds left. Settle and Sam Hofman drilled 3-pointers for Temple, but a 3-ball in between those from R.J. Blakney helped keep ODU up at half leading 34-31.
 
Unlike in Thursday's loss to TCU, this time the Monarchs opened the second half on a big run starting 10-2 as a three-point play from Allette gave ODU a 44-33 lead with 17:11 remaining.
 
"Today we sustained our energy throughout," said ODU senior Jason Wade. "Coach made an emphasis at half to come out and hit them first and we did."
 
Temple clawed back trimming the deficit to 50-47 following a 3-ball from Shane Dezonie with 12:08 left. The Monarchs quickly pushed the lead back to double figures as a Williams putback dunk gave ODU an 58-48 advantage at the 8:57 mark.
 
The Owls had one last run trimming the margin to 60-56 on the heels of an 8-2 burst as Hofman drilled another 3-ball with 6:42 left. ODU answered with layups from Wade, Allette and Williams for a 66-56 lead with 5:05 on the clock.
 
Temple got no closer than eight points and the lead grew to as much as 17 points late on a pair of Jenkins free throws with 48 seconds left at 78-61.
 
Jenkins had 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals to join Allette in double figures. Blakney and Williams added 11 points apiece, while Williams shared leading rebounding honors with Allette and Wade with eight.
 
"The guys were motivated about playing well today," Donohue said. "We knew if we played well, we could put ourselves in the position we wanted.  We played the way ODU wants to play basketball today."