Temple 68, Saint Joseph's 59

Dionte Christmas scored 23 points and Sergio Olmos had 14 as Temple defeated longtime city rival Saint Joseph's 68-59 Thursday night. Craig Williams added 11 points for the Owls (18-11, 10-5 Atlantic 10), who defeated Saint Joe's for the fourth straight time. Tasheed Carr had 22 points and Ahmad Nivins 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Hawks (15-14, 8-7), who lost their sixth game in seven starts. Temple led 34-23 two minutes into the second half, but the Hawks scored 9 straight points capped by a Nivins slam to trail by 34-32. Christmas and Williams hit 3-pointers, igniting a 13-0 spurt and a 47-32 Temple edge with 11 minutes to go. Saint Joseph's closed to 52-45 with 4:29 remaining, but Christmas made a nifty pass to Olmos for a layup, then hit a trey to put the game out of reach. Christmas and Nivins went into the game tied for the league's scoring lead at 19 points per game.