UNCASVILLE, Conn. — For the first 14 minutes, Temple held a lead against Florida State while the Seminoles attempted to use their size to score from the paint. But when FSU decided to try its luck from beyond the three-point line, the tide shifted.
The Seminoles nailed four consecutive shots from behind the arc to take a lead they never looked back from.
The Owls cut their deficit to just one point with two minutes remaining in the first half but that was the closest they got to regaining control. FSU maintained its lead into the second half and extended it to as many as 15, denying Temple any hopes of a comeback.
Temple (3-2, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Florida State (5-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) 78-69 Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament. The Owls have now lost back-to-back games after winning the first three of the season.
“There’s some spurts where they kind of get you, they get out in transition and go,” said head coach Adam Fisher. “But I thought for the most part, we did a pretty good job of trying to take care of basketball. It’s a different defense than you’re used to seeing, but great credit to [FSU].”
The game was a physical battle from the jump,, as there were five fouls called within the first five minutes. Two of those fouls were on Temple forward Babatunde Durodola. He had been critical down low in Temple’s first few games of the season but was forced to sit for the remainder of the first half to navigate foul trouble.
The Seminoles struck first with a second chance layup by forward Malique Ewin. It didn’t take long for Temple guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. to tie up the game as he sparked a nine-point run with a floater.
The Owls took a seven-point lead at 9-2 before both offenses turned stagnant. The game went quiet until FSU cut its deficit to just one point with about 10 minutes left in the first half. Temple responded with a 7-1 scoring run to build its lead back to seven at 21-14.
Temple moved the ball around well in the early part of the first half. After getting in the hands of three Owls, the ball found guard Matteo Picarelli who was open on the wing. He missed his three-point attempt but forward Elijah Gray was there to grab the rebound and put it back up to give Temple a 23-18 lead.
“I think our group’s pretty confident,” Fisher said. “I think we understood what we had to do against that defense. And I think early on, we did a really nice job of making some plays.”
The Seminoles held a major advantage in height and length and started the night looking comfortable in the paint because of those advantages. However, FSU flipped the momentum of the game when they found their spot at the three-point line.
FSU made four consecutive shots from behind the arc to take its first lead since the first points of the game at 30-26. The Seminoles entered the game as one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country but made six first-half threes against the Owls.
The game remained close for the rest of the half until Florida State forward Jerry Deng was fouled by Gray on a made three-pointer. Deng scored his free point to extend the FSU lead to six points, their largest lead of the half and went into halftime up 39-33.
FSU built on its momentum immediately to start the second half. A Mashburn turnover allowed the Seminoles to run down the court as Ewin found the basket to add to the lead. Temple guard Zion Stanford responded but Ewin did the same right after to keep control of the game at 43-35.
“We battled in spurts,” Fisher said. “We’ve got to clean up some of our details, but we just got to continue to keep getting better.”
The Seminoles started to take command of the game, extending their lead to as many as 15 points with 12 minutes remaining. Guard Jameel Brown looked to give the Owls back their momentum and scored off a three-pointer. He then had a fast-break layup after a steal. Forward Steve Settle III followed up with a steal and dunk of his own to cut the FSU lead to 59-49.
Brown had a major impact off the bench, leading the team in rebounds with six and in steals with four. He also added eight points and led the Owls in three-point makes with two.
“[Brown’s] got a high basketball IQ,” Fisher said. “If you rebound on this team, you’re going to get gonna get more minutes. If you can defend on this team, you’re gonna get more and he proved that tonight.”
The Owls desperately tried to fight their way back into the game by regaining possession. However, FSU made five of its six free throws in the last minute of the game while the Owls were unable to do the same as the Seminoles cruised to a 78-69 victory.
Temple missed 12 free throw attempts throughout the game, with five coming from Mashburn and four from Stanford. The Seminoles dominated the paint, scoring 40 points down low and outrebounding Temple by five.
Temple returns to action at the Mohegan Sun tomorrow as they take on UMass (1-3, 0-0 Atlantic-10 Conference) at 5 p.m.
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