Men's Basketball Loses in Final Seconds at Memphis, 67-65

Wednesday, January 13

Memphis, Tenn.

8:00 p.m.

Temple University

8-7, 3-2

Memphis

11-5, 2-1

Temple

Memphis

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Men's Basketball Loses in Final Seconds at Memphis, 67-65

1.13.16 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

MEMPHIS - An errant foul in the final seconds sent Memphis to the line, and the Tigers' Ricky Tarrant, Jr. hit a pair of free throws to hand Temple men's basketball a 67-65 loss on Wednesday night. The Owls had led by as many as 11 and had never trailed in the second half until 24 seconds remained in the game.

Thirteen seconds earlier, Tarrant had hit just 1-of-2, leaving Temple down 65-63. After a missed shot by the Owls at the other end, junior Josh Brown stole the ball and tied the game with a layup near the two-second mark. On the inbounds by Memphis after the tying shot, Daniel Dingle fouled Tarrant to send him back to the line.

Memphis improves to 11-5 overall and 2-1 in the American Athletic Conference, while Temple drops to 8-7 for the season and 3-2 in league play.

Shaq Goodwin scored 22 points for Memphis to lead all players, hitting 7-of-14 from the field and 8-of-11 at the line. He made it a double-double with 10 rebounds, and the Tigers also got a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) from Dedric Lawson.

The Owls' Jaylen Bond notched his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points to go with a season-high 14 rebounds, and Brown finished with season-high 15 points and seven assists to lead Temple. Quenton DeCosey also finished in double figures with 13 points.

Forcing 12 Memphis turnovers in the first half, the Owls were able to stay ahead for all but a few minutes near the midway point. With hot shooting early, Temple took an 11-4 lead.

The Tigers used a 10-0 run to take their largest lead of five, 21-16 at 8:35, but the Owls answered right back with an 11-0 run of their own. Obi Enechionyia got it started with back-to-back three-pointers, and a pair of Bond layups followed by a DeCosey free throw put Temple up 27-21 with four and a half minutes to go in the period.

Temple remained in the lead the rest of the way, building its largest lead of eight points, 43-35 at 2:49 after DeCosey recorded a steal and a bucket on back-to-back possessions.

Memphis cut the margin to three near the final minute, but the Owls took a 37-31 lead into the break after a dunk by DeCosey and a tip-in by Mark Williams.

Brown quickly gave the Owls an 11-point lead in the second half, and they would match it two more times in the opening five minutes. From there, the Tigers began to put the pressure on. They tied the game for the first time in the second half just past the midway point, 52-52, but the Owls rattled off six straight points to regain the lead.

Temple still led by five after a Devin Coleman three-pointer with 3:07 remaining, but after a Lawson trey at the other end, the Owls' advantage was no more than three the rest of the way.

Brown's game-tying layup was the only field goal made in nearly the final three minutes, but the Tigers hit six free throws in a row to tie the game and then take the lead with 15 seconds remaining.

Temple will look for a regular season sweep of Cincinnati in its next game, set for noon at home on Saturday, Jan. 16 (ESPNU / 1210 AM WPHT).

Box Score (PDF)