UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Temple jumped out ahead of UMass in the first five minutes of its game on Saturday, ballooning the lead to as many as 15 points before the Minutemen were able to fight their way back into the game. UMass put up 18 points off Temple’s 14 fouls to cut their deficit to as little as one point. The Owls, however, did not let up and composed themselves.
A shot from behind the arc by guard Jameel Brown extended the lead to seven going into halftime. Despite the Minutemen’s attempts in the second half, Temple denied them to get any closer as the Owls outscored their opponent for the rest of the way.
Temple (4-2, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) defeated UMass (1-4, 0-0 Atlantic 10 Conference) 87-80 Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament. Temple picked up its first win in nearly two weeks after dropping its last two games.
“[Jameel Brown’s] been great,” said head coach Adam Fisher. “He’s been an experienced guy who played in the Big 10. High IQ, can make shots, guards, he talks. He was playing great, he was playing really well and he’s continued. He’s a great leader and a great young man.”
Fisher dipped into his bench early with nine players seeing the court within the first eight minutes of the game. Temple’s depth has been a positive all year and it continued as Temple finished the first half with 17 bench points.
Temple struggled in its loss against FSU a day prior due to lacking size, but the Minutemen played a smaller lineup much like the Owls. Temple opted to play its bigger players to take the size advantage. Fisher utilized forwards Steve Settle III, Dillon Battie, Babatunde Durodola and Elijah Gray as well as guard Shane Dezonie who averages 4.5 rebounds per game to clean up the glass.
The game was tied early at nine points but from there the Owls completely left the Minutemen in the dust.
UMass endured a three minute scoring drought and Temple used it to score nine points to the Minutemen’s two, taking a 18-11 lead. UMass guard Nate Guerengomba drained a three to end the streak but the Minutemen went cold again, suffering a five-minute drought.
Temple capitalized and went on a 12-1 scoring run to extend its lead to 32-17. The Owls looked to continue that momentum with the remaining seven minutes in the first half but hurt themselves by getting in foul trouble— a common theme in Friday’s matchup.
UMass cut its deficit to as little as one point with the score at 35-34. The Owls had 14 fouls in the first half which the Minutemen scored 18 points off of. Temple collected itself and Brown hit a three as the shot clock expired to extend their lead to go into halftime up 43-36.
“They were calling a lot of fouls early and just the entire game,” said guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. “You’ve just got to play through it, stay together and make sure our huddles are great and we can only control what we can control.”
Brown was a spark plug off the bench for Temple against Florida State and he continued the trend on Saturday. He added 11 points off the bench and two steals to help give Temple a boost. In the matchup against FSU, he led the team in rebounds, steals and three-point makes.
Mashburn continued to be the Owls’ primary basket getter and after a made free throw just under 14 minutes left in the game he hit 20 points to become the eighth active player to reach 2,000 career points. Mashburn finished the night with 26 points.
“I honestly didn’t know I even got to that mark and my teammates had to tell me,” Mashburn said. “I’m just really locked in on getting a win and stuff like that. So it feels even better getting it in a win.”
The Minutemen were looking to take their first lead since four minutes into the game as the second half opened. UMass cut its deficit to four points but never got any closer as Temple’s defense clamped down and the offense ballooned the lead.
The Minutemen put full court pressure on the Owls but it wasn’t a threat to Temple’s offensive groove. Temple easily got past half court and remained strong driving to the paint. The Owls drew 16 fouls in the final half and added 19 points from the charity line. Temple never let the Minutemen come within reach as the Owls took the 87-80 win.
Temple has struggled grabbing missed shots off the glass all season and it looked like the trend was going to continue after UMass outrebounded Temple 25-20 in the first half. However, the Owls dialed in and won the rebound battle in the second half, 22-10.
“We regroup after halftime,” Fisher said. “We make a commitment to each other to go play Temple basketball for 40 minutes. And if the game was only 20, there’d be a lot of different wins and losses. So we talk about, ‘hey, the first 20 is done. What can we do in this next 20 to continue to play Temple basketball?’”
The Owls will have a week break and look to secure a spot in the Big 5 classic Championship when they take on La Salle (5-2, 0-0 A10) on Nov. 30 at 4 p.m.
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