PHILADELPHIA Akron tops Chaney-less Temple

The Zips won their first career postseason game in the school's Division I era.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- John Chaney missed the final game of his Hall of Fame career.
Chaney skipped Temple's 80-73 overtime loss to Akron in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday night because of his wife's health issues, an unceremonious way to close out a 34-year coaching career.
Chaney retired Monday after 24 seasons at Temple, ending a career that reached 741 wins but never the Final Four. Chaney was not on the bench because his wife underwent a procedure for an undisclosed health problem. Assistant Dan Leibovitz took his place.
He also missed quite a serious scare with about 30 seconds remaining in the game for one of his favorite players, senior guard Mardy Collins. Collins -- a projected NBA first-round pick -- crashed hard on a driving layup and lay face down for several minutes.
With his pregnant girlfriend looking on from behind the basket, Collins was turned over and tended to by Temple's medical staff for about 20 minutes before he was fitted for a neck brace and left on a stretcher.
There was no foul called on the play, and the game was not televised making it difficult to tell exactly how he landed. There was no immediate word on his condition.
Collins was Temple's (17-15) leading scorer with 16.6 points.
Still, it was a quite a win for the Zips, playing in their first postseason tournament since 1988-89 and winning their first career postseason game in the Division I era (1980-81). Akron had played in two NITs and one NCAA tournament, in 1986 under Bob Huggins.
Akron (23-9) plays Thursday night at Creighton (19-9).
Darryl Peterson and Nick Dials each scored 17 points for the Zips.
Mark Tyndale led the Owls with 23 points and Collins had 22 points and eight rebounds.
Collins' jumper with 35 seconds left in regulation put the Owls ahead 66-64 and seemed poised to give Chaney a chance to coach another day. Instead, Dru Joyce's layup tied it with nine seconds left and sent the game into overtime.
Romeo Travis opened overtime with a three-point play for the Zips, and Cedrick Middleton hit a 3-pointer to give them a six-point lead.
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