Dunphy named A-10 Coach of the Year

PHILADELPHIA  – Temple University’s heralded three guards all earned all-Atlantic 10 Conference accolades while head coach Fran Dunphy was named Coach of the Year for the second time in the last three years as the league office announced its season awards Monday.

Senior Ramone Moore, junior Khalif Wyatt and senior Juan Fernandez were named first, second and third team all-conference. Fernandez, who owns a 3.08 cumulative grade point average as a Broadcast Journalism major, was selected to the Academic All-Atlantic 10 Conference team for the second straight season.

Moore, who earned second team honors last season, leads Temple in scoring and ranks second in the conference with a 17.8 average.  The Philadelphia native (Southern HS) leads the conference in minutes played (36.5 mpg.) and ranks second on Temple in three-pointers (53) and assists (104).  He scored his 1,000th point this season and currently sits in 28th place on TU’s alltime list with 1,374 points.

Wyatt, the 2011 A10 Sixth Man of the Year, ranks third in the A10 in scoring with a 17.1 average while he leads the league in 20-point games (12) and consecutive double-figure scoring games (18).  The Norristown, Pa, native also ranks fourth in the A10 in steals (2.1 pg.) and free throw percentage (.849).

Fernandez, a native of Rio Tercero, Argentina (Dr. Alexis Carrel HS), earns third team all-league for the second straight season.  He leads the Owls in assists (3.8 apg., 8th A10) while ranking third on the team in scoring (11.4 ppg.).  Ranked 7th on Temple’s alltime assist (416) and three-point list (203), he currently is sixth in the A10 in three-pointers made (2.1 pg.) and fifth in percentage (.431)

Dunphy, who has guided Temple to a 134-63 record, three A10 titles and four NCAA tournament appearances in his six years at the helm, picks up his second career Coach of the Year honor.  Picked to finish second in the conference in the preseason poll, Dunphy guided the Cherry and White to its first outright title since 1989-90 with a 13-3 league mark, 24-6 overall.  He did that despite projected starting forward Scootie Randall missing the entire season and starting center Micheal Eric being sidelined for 13 games due to a knee injury.

The Owls are the #1-seed in the A-10 Tournament and open play against the winner of Tuesday’s First Round game featuring #9-seed Duquesne at #8-seed Massachusetts on Friday at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.  Tip time is noon with the game being televised live by Comcast SportsNet and broadcast on 610 AM WIP.