Men's Basketball Falls 81-74 to Hot-Shooting #20/20 Cincinnati

Wednesday, January 18

Cincinnati, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

Temple University

10-10, 1-6

Cincinnati

16-2, 6-0

Temple

Cincinnati

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Men's Basketball Falls 81-74 to Hot-Shooting #20/20 Cincinnati

1.18.17 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CINCINNATI - It was close to the best offensive performance of the season for Temple men's basketball, but the Owls couldn't compete with the red-hot second-half shooting of No. 20/20 Cincinnati (16-2, 6-0) in an 81-74 loss at Fifth Third Arena. It was the ninth straight win and 19th straight home win for the Bearcats, who remain undefeated in the American Athletic Conference.

Temple (10-10, 1-6) was the last team to beat Cincinnati on its home court, but was unable to do it again despite shooting almost 53 percent from the field. The Bearcats hit just 33 percent of their first-half shots but made 74 percent of them in a 55-point second half.

After trailing by 13 points with six minutes remaining, the Owls cut the deficit to five in the final minute on a three-pointer by Alani Moore II, the 12th of the game for Temple to tie its season-high. Cincinnati, who hit 20-of-24 free throws in the contest, had two of its four misses in the final 20 seconds, but Temple was unable to take advantage.

Shizz Alston, Jr. led all scorers with 25 points, matching his career high set just four days ago against Tulsa. He made 5-of-10 from long range while also dishing a team-high six assists, and notched another career high by leading all players with five steals.

Quinton Rose scored 12 points off the bench including 10 in the second half, and was the Owls' leading rebounder with five. Daniel Dingle also scored 12 including 6-of-8 free throws, and Obi Enechionyia made 5-of-9 field goals for 11 points, his 15th double-figure scoring game of the season.

The Bearcats also had four players score in double digits, led by Troy Caupain with 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

With a couple of strong spurts in the first half, combined with poor shooting by Cincinnati, the Owls held the edge at halftime by a score of 28-26. Temple had a stretch of close to four minutes without a point in the latter half of the period, but it was more due to turnovers than missed shots as the Owls ultimately shot 61 percent from the field.

Cincinnati led for over 15 minutes in the first half, but there were three ties and five lead changes in a very much back-and-forth game.

The largest lead for the Bearcats was six points on two occasions, the second with 3:31 remaining before Temple closed out the half with a 10-2 run thanks to five straight points for Mark Williams. After tying the game at 26-26 on his layup at the one-minute mark, Alston got the ball back for the Owls with a steal and fed Rose for a layup to give Temple a two-point lead at the break.

Temple led by as many as six points early in the second half before the Bearcats really caught fire. After the game's sixth tie at 13:09, Cincinnati took the lead and never trailed again. The Bearcats hit eight shots in a row and then 11-of-12, at one point shooting 77 percent for the half. They took their first double-digit lead with 6:28 remaining, and still led by 11 with just a minute and 32 seconds remaining.

Rose and Moore made the Owls' 11th and 12th three-pointers of the game in the final 36 seconds, but Temple could get within no fewer than five points.

Temple will now have a full week off before hosting Memphis in its next game, set for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25 (CBSSN / 1210 AM WPHT).