Philadelphia, PA – The Temple Owls scored a season-high 53 points in the second half to defeat the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, 84-73, at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. The win gave the Owls a season split in their series with Tulsa with each team notching a win on their home court.
Temple and Tulsa were locked in a tight, defensive game for most of the first half as good post defense by Temple’s J.P. Moorman II and Justyn Hamilton limited the effectiveness of Tulsa’s inside game.
Tulsa guard Curran Scott led the first half scoring for the Golden Hurricane. He drove consistently and aggressively in the first half and finished the half with 10 points on 7-for-7 shooting from the foul line. Both teams struggled from 3-point range and, as the first half horn sounded, Temple clung to a 31-30 lead.
The second half started with Temple using an inside-out attack to extend their lead to 45-39 four minutes into the period. Tulsa stayed close midway through the second stanza as substitute guard Elijah Joiner attacked the basket, scoring or assisting on four straight Tulsa possessions.
Temple’s height and length advantage across the front line began to take its toll over the course of the next few minutes as the Owls’ Damian Moore controlled the boards and Quinton Rose scored on multiple slashing drive/dunks as well as a soaring alley-oop throwdown at the rim.
The steady floor leadership of Shizz Alston Jr. kept Temple’s lead at a comfortable 8-10 points as the game approached the final minutes. Alston controlled the game from his guard position, attacking when he saw an advantage, hitting a couple of 3-point shots, and pulling back the reins of the Temple offense as the team went into a more deliberate offense in the last three minutes of the game.
Tulsa was unable to apply any effective pressure in the last few minutes of the game and Temple coasted to a comfortable victory in front of their home fans. Alston, Jr. and Rose finished as high scorers for Temple with 24 and 23 points respectively.
Scott and forward Martins Igbanu led the scoring for Tulsa with 15 points each.
Both teams are back in action on Tuesday, with Temple facing a tough test at Memphis and Tulsa playing at home against Tulane.
This article was written by Mark Jablonski, a correspondent and scout for NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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