Temple Men’s Basketball went down by as many as 13 points midway through the second half of its regular-season finale, and things looked bleak. The Owls entered their matchup with UTSA on a two-game losing streak and were hoping to regain some momentum before the American Athletic Conference Tournament on March 13.
The Owls slowly crawled back into the game and with 2:31 left, guard Shane Dezonie made a layup to tie the game up at 79. Forward Sam Hofman hit a three-pointer on the next possession to give the Owls their first lead since it was 37-35 late in the first half. Guard Hysier Miller had the ball with 20 seconds left, ran the clock down to five and made a fadeaway jumper as time expired to give Temple the win.
Temple (12-19, 5-13 American Athletic Conference) took down UTSA (11-20, 5-13 AAC) 84-82 Sunday afternoon in San Antonio, Texas. The Owls finished 11th in the conference standings and will face the Roadrunners again to open the postseason tournament.
Both offenses came out shooting well, exchanging buckets throughout the first half. Each squad shot north of 40 percent in the first half, and both made multiple three-pointers.
The difference in the first half was the Roadrunners’ ability to get to the free-throw line. UTSA shot 18 free throws in the opening period, making 13 of them and finishing 19-27 from the stripe. Temple fell well short of that mark, going just 10-15 on free throws, but took advantage of UTSA’s key misses from the line in the second half.
The offensive battle continued into the second half, as UTSA went cold while Temple got hot when they needed to most. The Owls shot 48 percent from the field and from three, making seven of their 10 three-point attempts in the final period. Four different players made multiple threes, led by Hofman’s perfect 4-4.
Guard Jordan Riley spearheaded the offensive attack, finishing with 16 points on 7-12 shooting from the field. Dezonie and Miller added 15 and 16 points, respectively. Hofman was crucial as well, putting up 12 points on perfect shooting from the field.
The Owls struggled on defense and rebounding against UAB on March 7, but they overcame those same issues against the Roadrunners. UTSA shot 45 percent from the field, and guard PJ Carter had his way, putting up 27 points.
Temple was dominated on the glass in the first half, getting outrebounded 28-17 and allowing 10 second-chance points for UTSA. The Owls got on the boards in the second half, grabbing 15 rebounds compared to UTSA’s 13.
The Owls will remain in Texas but head to Fort Worth for the AAC Tournament to face UTSA again in the first round on March 13 at 3 p.m.
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