Friday, March 14th, 9:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Boardwalk Hall (10,500) -- Atlantic City, New Jersey. Television: CSTV Regional. Home Record: Charlotte 14-3, Temple 10-4. Away Record: Charlotte 4-7, Temple 7-5. Neutral Record: Charlotte 2-2, Temple 2-3. Conference Record: Charlotte 10-7, Temple 11-5. Series Record: Charlotte leads, 4-3.

GAME NOTES: The opportunity to play for the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament title is on the line tonight, as the Temple Owls and the Charlotte 49ers clash in the semifinals of the event at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The second- seeded Owls, who earned a bye through the opening round, defeated local foe La Salle in the quarterfinals on Thursday evening by a score of 84-75, taking the team a step closer to adding to their league-record six tournament crowns. However, Temple has not taken home the trophy since defeating UMass in 2001. As for the sixth-seeded 49ers, a recent addition to the league, they are now 2-2 in the event all-time after getting past Rhode Island in the opening round on Wednesday, 75-73, and then defeating the Minutemen yesterday, 69-65. The teams split their two meetings this season, each winning at home, but the difference being that Charlotte won by just a single basket the second week of January at Halton Arena and the Owls posted a decisive 75-61 triumph in Philadelphia in late February. As a result, the 49ers lead the all-time series by a count of 4-3. The winner of this matchup will take on the winner of the Saint Joseph's/Xavier contest in the championship on Saturday.

Charlotte trailed by 17 points at the break and 18 in the second half, yet the 49ers never surrendered yesterday as they secured the four-point win over UMass. Charlie Coley handled the action on the inside for the 49ers as he registered a game-high 17 rebounds to go with his 14 points, while Leemire Goldwire posted a team-best 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field. Before fouling out Lamont Mack accounted for 23 points and nine boards, shooting 5-of-8 behind the three-point line. Through 31 games this season Goldwire was the top scorer for the group with his 18.9 ppg, even though he was shooting just 37.9 percent from the field. Mack added 12.5 ppg, but he too had issues from the floor at a mere 39.5 percent. Heading into Thursday's game the 49ers were shooting just 40.9 percent from the field as a group, yet still outscoring opponents by three and a half points per game.

Temple shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first half, yet made a mere 3- of-13 beyond the arc, but against a familiar foe like La Salle the Owls still had plenty of space between them. Temple ended up hitting on 55.1 percent from the floor as Dionte Christmas tallied a team-best 29 points, thanks to his 11- of-14 effort at the free-throw line, followed by Mark Tyndale with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, although the latter also turned the ball over seven times. Sergio Olmos accounted for 14 points and Chris Clark another 12 off the bench for a team that has opened up the offense this season and produced 73.1 ppg. Christmas has been the main workhorse for the unit with his 20.6 ppg, adding 6.2 rpg as well, while Tyndale produces another 16.0 ppg, is first on the glass and assists with 6.9 rpg and a total of 130 dishes, respectively.

After such an exhilarating win last night, the chances of Charlotte being able to come right back out a day later and perform at a high level against a team like the Owls is asking quite a bit.

Predicted Outcome

Temple 74, Charlotte 68