It was rainy outside the Liacouras Center Sunday but the real storm was going on inside as Temple’s Juan Fernandez pretty much made sure that Villanova's perfect record and city dominance were finished.
Fernandez hit seven threes and scored a career-high 33 points while Ryan Brooks added 20 points in Temple's 75-65 victory over the third-ranked Wildcats on Sunday.
Temple (8-2) fans bellowed “Overrated!” moments before they stormed the court in their biggest win in coach Fran Dunphy's four seasons with the Owls.
Fernandez led a sizzling three-point attack that stunned the Wildcats (9-1) in the second half and helped the Owls pull away for their first win over a top-five team since beating No. 1 Cincinnati in Feb. 2000. The Owls opened the half on an 11-0 run and grabbed a lead they would never surrender.
The fans want an encore, stomping the court and chanting “We Want Kansas!” in preparation for the top-ranked Jayhawks' visit on Jan. 2.
The Wildcats hadn't lost a city series game since Dec. 4, 2008, against Saint Joseph's and Nova has won 21 of its last 23 Big 5 games.
Lavoy Allen had 10 points and 17 rebounds for the Owls in their fourth-straight win.
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Scottie Reynolds led the Cats with 23 points, Antonio Pena had 16 and Corey Fisher 14.
The Owls made the NCAA tournament the last two seasons under Dunphy and were certainly not a pushover for Villanova. But the Wildcats have ruled the city series like few teams in the 55-year history of the Big 5. The Wildcats had cruised through the city games like a No. 1 seed handles a 16 in the tournament.
After Reynolds made a layup off his steal, then hit a pull-up three on the next possession for a 31-19 lead, Villanova appeared on its way to another rout in its perfect start.
Not so fast.
The Owls entered shooting only 29 percent from three-point range, but, as so often happens in a Big 5 game in front of a packed crowd, the numbers are meaningless.
Fernandez hit big tre after big tre, each one more meaningful than the last. His first one of the second half put the Owls ahead 39-37 and Craig Williams followed with a 3-pointer to cap an 11-0 run that put the roaring crowd on its feet.
Reynolds coolly kept his Cats in the game with a three that brought them to 49-47 and made it seem like Temple's lead would be short-lived.
Not Sunday. In front of nearly 8,500 raucous fans at the Liacouras Center, Brooks nailed a triple and so did Fernandez for a 59-53 lead.
The Owls made 11 of 22 three-pointers after entering a woeful 49 of 168. Fernandez, who was averaging only 10.6 points, missed only two of his three-point attempts.
Villanova coach Jay Wright likes to say how Big 5 games ready his team for a rugged Big East season even though the nonconference games rarely help their RPI.
The Owls gave them everything they could handle and looked like they were the team that ruled the city. Temple lost by one point earlier this season to No. 15 Georgetown, and has proved they are poised again to make a deep run in the Atlantic 10.
