Temple University trailed Wichita State by 13 points at halftime on Sunday and trailed by 11 points with three minutes, nine seconds left at Charles Koch Arena in Kansas.
Junior guard Quinton Rose made a floater in the lane to start an 11-point run capped by an isolation jump shot by senior guard Shizz Alston Jr. to tie the game with 34 seconds left in regulation.
Alston and Rose combined for 25 points in the second half and overtime of the Owls’ 85-81 win against Wichita State (7-7, 0-2 American Athletic Conference).
Temple (11-3, 1-1 The American) came out motivated to make a comeback in the second half. The Owls outscored the Shockers 42-29 and improved their shooting percentage to a 50 percent while holding Wichita State to 42.9 percent shooting to end regulation.
In the first half, the Owls shot just 43.3 percent from the field while allowing the Shockers to shoot 57.1 percent.
In overtime, Temple outscored the Shockers 11-7 while shooting 4-for-7 from the floor. Alston, who scored seven overtime points, made yet another clutch shot as he drained a pull-up 3-pointer with 52 seconds left to give Temple an 83-79 lead.
Alston finished the game as Temple’s leading scorer with 22 points, including the team’s last five points in overtime.
Sophomore guard Nate Pierre-Louis contributed 21 points, including nine in the second half, on 8-of-17 shooting from the floor. Pierre-Louis recorded his third consecutive game with more than 20 points.
Temple will continue conference play when it returns home to play Houston (15-0, 2-0 The American), which is No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, on Wednesday at the Liacouras Center.
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