Men's Basketball Loses Lead Late; Falls 87-83 at La Salle in Big 5 Opener

Sunday, November 26

Philadelphia, Pa.

5:00 p.m.

Temple University

3-1

La Salle

4-3

Temple

La Salle

Photo by: Zach Bland

Men's Basketball Loses Lead Late; Falls 87-83 at La Salle in Big 5 Opener

11.26.17 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA - An 11-point second-half lead failed to hold up in a tough city series game for Temple men's basketball, as the Owls (3-1, 0-1 Big 5) lost a Philadelphia Big 5 battle 87-83 at La Salle (4-3, 2-0 Big 5) on Sunday evening. Temple never trailed until the final minutes of the contest, but the Explorers' ball-handling and free-throw shooting ultimately made the difference.

Keys to the Game
> La Salle committed just four turnovers to the Owls' 13, and finished with a 15-2 lead in points off turnovers.
> The Explorers hit 14-of-15 from the line including 10-of-10 in the final four minutes.
> Pookie Powell and B.J. Johnson combined for 54 of La Salle's 87 points, with each making 10 field goals.

Individual Highlights
> Senior forward Obi Enechionyia reached the 1,000-point mark for his career, becoming the 52nd player in program history to do so. Enechionyia scored 16 points overall, and hit 4-of-5 three-pointers.
> Leading the Owls was sophomore Quinton Rose with a season-high 21 points on 10-of-17 field-goal shooting.
> Junior Shizz Alston, Jr. added 18 points and kept his free-throw streak alive by hitting 2-of-2. He has now made 44 consecutive free throws dating back to last December.
> Redshirt senior Josh Brown had his strongest outing since returning to the active roster this season, scoring 11 points and dishing a game- and season-high seven assists.

First Half
> Capped by the two free throws that put Enechionyia at 1,000 career points, the Owls used a 9-2 run to take their first double-digit lead of 18-8 just before the midway point.
> Temple matched its 10-point advantage four more times, the last at 33-23 (4:49) after back-to-back-to-back treys for Alston, De'Vondre Perry and Enechionyia.
> The Explorers began to hit their stride from long range, going 4-for-5 in the final nine minutes after starting the game 0-for-5.
> Rose hit three straight jumpers, but all were matched by La Salle which then used a 6-0 run to eventually cut the deficit to a pair, 39-37 with 1:08 left.
> The Owls scored the final four points with two free throws for Alston and a last-second layup for Rose to take a 43-37 lead into the break.
> Temple out-shot La Salle 58.6 percent to 44.4 percent in the half. Rose led all players at halftime with 13 points.

Second Half
> Both teams shot well over 50 percent overall in the second half that was largely back and forth for the first 10 minutes.
> Temple had the hotter hand early on, at one point scoring on nine of 10 possessions to take its largest lead of 11 points, 66-55 with 10:57 remaining.
> The Owls then went cold as the Explorers used an 11-0 run to tie the game at 66-66 with 7:29 left.
> Temple regained the lead after another tie, going back up as many as four at the five-minute mark.
> From there, the Explorers closed on a 15-7 run with 10 of those points coming on free throws.
> The Owls committed three straight turnovers, making them unable to attempt a shot from the field for over a minute and a half.

Head Coach Fran Dunphy - Postgame Quotes
"I thought Powell and Johnson were very, very good throughout. I thought we did a good job in the first 10 minutes and took care of our assignments...then they got hot and they did what they needed to do...it was an impressive performance by them and we just weren't good enough defensively after those first 10 minutes."

"They were good at taking care of the ball. That's what they're doing to teams, turning them over 12, 13 times. I thought we made some poor decisions trying to go one-on-one a few too many times and it cost us."

"We like our team. We like our guys. It's a tough loss for us because it's a city game. We knew it was going to be difficult and I was worried about the distance between last Sunday and this Sunday. I wanted us to play some games in there. Now we'll start a flow (of games) and I think we'll be better for it."

Up Next
> The Owls will head to famed Madison Square Garden to play 2017 NCAA Final Four team South Carolina at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 30 in the Under Armour Reunion (ESPNU / 1210 AM WPHT).