Juan Fernández took another step towards making Argentina‘s squad for the FIBA World Championship by leading the Temple Owls to the Atlantic 10 Conference title.

Discuss Juan Fernandez and Argentinian Basketball

After Fernandez keyed a game-opening 24-8 run that led No. 17 Temple to a 69-51 victory over St. Bonaventure on Friday, the 19-year-old guard scored a game-high 17 points on Sunday as the Owls beat the Richmond Spiders, 56-52.

For his influential performances, Fernandez was voted the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament MVP.

He and his teammates will now focus on the NCAA Tournament and their first-round meeting with Cornell in the East Region later this week.

“We have sure goals and we achieved one, winning the Atlantic 10,” Fernandez said. “Now we really want to play that first-round game.

“It’s been two years in a row Temple can’t get past that, so it’s our job to put Temple in that second round.”

Fernandez represented Argentina last year at the FIBA U19 World Championship in New Zealand and averaged 8.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game as the South Americans finished fifth.

He is expected to be in Sergio Hernandez’s preliminary squad for this year’s FIBA World Championship in Turkey, where Argentina will face Serbia, Australia, Germany, Angola and Germany in Preliminary Round Group A.