Fernandez leads No. 17 Temple to 69-51 win over St. Bonaventure in A10 tournament

Fernandez leads No. 17 Temple over Bonnies 69-51

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Juan Fernandez hit three 3-pointers and handed out three assists in a game-opening 24-8 run that led No. 17 Temple to a 69-51 victory over St. Bonaventure in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament on Friday.

Fernandez finished with 17 points and matched a career high with seven assists as the top-seeded and two-time defending champion Owls (27-5) beat the Bonnies (15-16) for the 13th straight time.

Lavoy Allen added 14 points and 15 rebounds and Michael Eric had 13 points to help Temple win its eighth straight game and 10th in 11.

Andrew Nicholson had 13 points and seven rebounds for the eighth-seeded Bonnies, who beat Duquesne on Tuesday for their first win in the conference tournament since 2002.

Temple, which was picked to finish fifth in the preseason conference poll, played well on both ends of the court in reaching the semifinals, where it will play either fourth-seeded Saint Louis or fifth-seeded Rhode Island on Saturday at Boardwalk Hall.

The Owls shot 52.6 percent (30 of 57) from the field and held St. Bonaventure to 35.8 percent (19 of 53) in winning their seventh straight conference tournament game over the past three seasons.

The game was actually decided in the opening minutes of each half.

Fernandez had a hand in 16 of the Owls’ 24 points in the opening minutes. The sophomore from Argentina hit three 3-pointers — including one that turned into a rare four-point play — and he set up two layups by Allen and another by Eric with passes inside.

St. Bonaventure, whose only two losses in its final seven games were to Temple, made one run in the first half, scoring seven straight points to cut the deficit to 28-21 on a jumper by Nicholson with 5:03 left in the half.

Allen ignited and capped an 11-6 run with baskets inside to give Temple a 39-27 halftime lead and the Owls put the game away with a 9-2 spurt to start the second half. Fernandez opened the run with a 3-pointer and Ryan Brooks capped it with another long jumper.

Demetrius Conger and Ogo Adegboye added 10 points for St. Bonaventure, which was looking to reach the conference semifinals for first time since 2000.

The double-double for Allen was his 13th of the season. The 15 rebounds tied for the 10th highest in an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament game.