Temple 85, La Salle 66

3/8/2008 5:41 PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Guard Chris Clark came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points and Dionte Christmas added 19, leading Temple to an 85-66 victory over La Salle on Saturday.

Mark Tyndale and Sergio Olmos each scored 14 points for the Owls (18-12, 11-5 Atlantic 10), who won for the seventh time in nine games and reversed last year's 12-18 mark. The victory also clinched a No. 2 seed in the upcoming A-10 tournament for the Owls.

Darnell Harris had 26 points for La Salle (14-16, 8-8), including four 3-point shots to become the conference's career 3-point leader. He passed Monty Mack, who had 331 for Massachusetts. Harris has 335 career 3-pointers.

Clark, a 5-foot-8 senior, made his first eight shots, including six 3-pointers, and sparked runs of 25-6 and 17-4 in the first half as Temple raced to a 50-26 lead at the break.

The Explorers, led by Harris, pulled within 56-44 with 13:16 remaining, but Clark made another 3-pointer followed by a layup by Tyndale. La Salle never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.