Led by double-digit performances from guards Quenton DeCosey, Jesse Morgan and Will Cummings, the men’s basketball team recovered from a sluggish start en route to running its winning streak to six consecutive games as Temple knocked off Tulane University Wednesday night, 64-56.
DeCosey, a junior, paced the floor with 15 points, while seniors Cummings and Morgan netted 14 apiece to help the Owls finish the night in the American Athletic Conference’s top spot with the win.
Entering the contest, junior forward Jaylen Bond was coming off a performance on Sunday in which he netted 21 points and snared 14 rebounds to help the men’s basketball team to its fifth straight victory in a six-point defeat of Central Florida.
So, it was only natural that Bond came out firing at Tulane’s Devlin Fieldhouse. Much like the majority of his teammates, though, he struggled early from the floor in a sluggish first half in which the Owls trailed, 27-25, by the end of it.
After the Owls secured the opening tip-0ff, Bond air-balled the game’s first jump-shot attempt, and missed another on the ensuing possession to set the early tone. While he saw limited action in the game’s late stages as he flirted with foul trouble, Bond hit five buckets in the second half to finish off a double-double performance with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Temple (12-4, 3-0 The American) outscored The Green Wave (11-4, 2-1 The American), 20-8, from the start of the second half to take a 10-point lead midway through the latter period. Tulane went on a 13-4 run from there to pull within a point of the Owls with just more than six minutes left to play.
After a brief back-and-forth period of high-tempo play, senior guard Jesse Morgan drained a 3-point basket to cap an 8-0 Temple run that had the Owls ahead, 58-51, with 2:06 left. Tulane hit a pair of baskets, including a 3-pointer from guard Jay Hook, in the game’s final minute to keep it a contest until the final buzzer.
Hook led The Green Wave with 14 points, while freshman center Dylan Osetkowski was a force inside for Tulane, particularly in the second half, and finished with a career-high 13 points off the bench while grabbing seven rebounds.
The Owls finished on 21-of-61 shooting (34.4 percent), while hitting 7 of 19 shots from 3-point range. While Tulane averaged 37.3 percent from the floor, Temple took 20 trips to the free-throw line compared to The Green Wave’s 10, finishing 15-for-20 from the charity stripe.
Next, the Owls will host the University of Tulsa (9-5, 2-0 The American) Saturday at 3 p.m.
Andrew Parent can be reached at andrew.parent@temple.edu or on Twitter @Andrew_Parent23.
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