– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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PHILADELPHIA — Almost unquestionably the best player of all who took the basketball floor during the latest edition of the legendary Big 5 basketball series, Penn guard Jordan Dingle had only one more opportunity to help the Quakers turn his extraordinary efforts into a team victory. Dingle made the last 20 minutes of Saturday’s rivalry game into a personal showcase, all while both carrying his team to victory and playing spoiler.
Dingle scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half to lead the Quakers to a 77-57 victory over the Temple Owls in Big 5 action at The Palestra on Saturday afternoon. Max Martz added 14 points while Lucas Monroe had 10 points for Penn, who shot 56 percent from the second half to overturn a two-point halftime deficit.
Dingle’s heroics in the Quakers’ last three games, all against fellow members of the Big 5, all came in defeat despite averaging 30 points per game in those contests, including a 37-point effort in an overtime loss to La Salle. (Penn’s loss to Saint Joseph’s also came in overtime.) Dingle’s jumper in the paint broke a 35-35 tie early in the second half and started a 7-0 Quakers run.
Though Penn never trailed again after that run, Temple did come back to tie the score one more time at 53 after a three-point play from guard Khalif Battle with 8:49 remaining. Dingle responded with a three-point play of his own, then scored on a layup two possessions later to give the Quakers a five-point advantage. In a four-minute-and-seven-second span, leading into the under-4 media timeout, Dingle scored nine points and helped pushed Penn’s lead to double digits, with his layup off an offensive rebound gave Penn a 66-54 lead with 3:50 left.
Temple came into today looking to sweep the four games against the remaining Big 5 schools for the first time since the 2009-10 season. Battle led the Owls with 14 points.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday afternoon’s game, with all photos taken by ALOST photo editor Robert Cole. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 13 pictures in total.
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