My final basketball game

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Tonight, the Temple men’s basketball team beat Big 5, A-10 and North Philadelphia rival La Salle 85-66 to claim sole ownership of second place for their conference tournament, set to start this week.

I didn’t go. I was holed up in my apartment doing work, but it sure made me think. I missed the last regular season college basketball game of my career as a student.

I did make it to last week’s senior week, when the Owls beat Duquesne 90-85, the last game at the Liacouras Center I would ever seen as a Temple student.

It was the first tangible effect of my graduation. Afterwards, a few of us, who had been the front row cheering section for the Owls since our freshman year in 2004, took a shot, depicted above, in front of the court. Our last time together, likely.


I remembered shooting three pointers at halftime of the men’s game against Duke last year. I hit three to win Qdoba for a semester, before giving the middle finger to friends as I walked off the court – losing me the victory. I remembered a highly hyped game against Villanova, another Big 5 rival, this year, for which my friend Matt and I painted up as “T U.” I didn’t take enough photographs of those hundred games or so I’ve gone through the past four years. It was a wonderful experience.

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