Right after jumping out to its first lead since the opening minutes, Temple was back on the ropes in the final stages against Boston College on Friday. The Owls were on a nearly eight-minute stretch without a field goal and were hanging by a thread as they trailed by four with a minute left.
Temple guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. cut the lead to just one and preserved the fading chances of overtime by chucking up a three that banked in off the glass, keeping Temple in the game.
The Owls got the ball back the next possession with the game on the line, but Boston College made sure anyone but Mashburn shot the ball. That task instead went to forward Elijah Gray, but a shot never happened after Boston College forward Elijah Strong forced a charge to derail any hope of a Temple win.
Temple (3-1, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Boston College (2-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) 72-69 Friday night in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The Owls ended the game missing 11 of their last 12 shots to spoil their chance at a victory.
The Owls’ offense had a hot start in their win against Drexel on Nov. 12 and it looked as if that same trend was going to continue Friday. Mashburn hit a jumper and Zion Stanford followed it up for Temple’s first two shots of the game. The Owls knocked down five of their first seven shots to take a 13-10 lead before the Eagles began to surge.
Boston College woke up following a midrange jumper from guard Quante Berry and began to take control after both teams traded blows early. The Eagles hit three straight shots to snatch the lead and were able to balloon it to double digits after hitting six straight shots later in the half.
Strong was the main reason for the first-half run. The sophomore had 15 points in the first 20 minutes of play and helped fuel a 28-15 run by the Eagles from the 15-minute mark of the first half to the five-minute mark.
The Owls were crushed on the glass in their last game but those struggles seemingly went away against Boston College. Temple only had one less rebound than its opponent in the first half and had 11-second chance points compared to the Eagles’ nine, but couldn’t overcome an Eagles squad shooting 56% in the first half.
Temple began to storm back in the final minutes of the half. They finished the first half on a 13-5 run, sparked by shots from Mashburn and forward Steve Settle III, alongside a pair of free throws from Stanford to enter halftime down just 46-41.
Temple picked up right where it left off coming out of the break. Settle drilled a shot from beyond the arc, but Eagles’ forward Chad Venning answered with a make of his own. Mashburn hit a three on Temple’s next possession to spark a 6-0 Owl run to take their first lead since the 15:22 mark of the first half.
The Eagles attempted to make the same run they had in the first half but the Owls’ defense locked in after a lapse in the first period. Temple held Boston College to just 27% shooting in the second half and began to plug up the lanes on the court, which Boston College was unable to recover from.
Gray pushed Temple’s lead to four by knocking down a deep three-pointer and a layup on the ensuing possession with eight minutes left. It looked like the Owls had control, but they went ice cold from that point forward.
The Eagles scored seven of the next nine points to take the lead back. Forward Babatunde Durodola rejected a shot by guard Donald Hand Jr., but Strong came in with a rebound and promptly knocked down a shot and was fouled.
Strong failed to follow up his first-half performance, but his three-point play helped give the Eagles momentum for the rest of the game. Temple didn’t hit a shot for nearly eight minutes, relying on free throws and defense to stay within arm’s reach.
The cold stretch in the final minutes cost the Owls their first 4-0 start since the 2019-20 season, and. Gray’s charge in the final minute derailed any chance of overtime. Mashburn lobbed a final shot as time expired but it never had a chance of going in as the Eagles hung on for the victory.
Temple will be back in action against Florida State ( 3-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) in the Hall of Fame Tip-off in Uncasville, Connecticut on Nov. 22 at 5 p.m.
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