Temple was tied with Charlotte five times in the final five minutes of regulation despite trailing by 10 points in the first half. Owls’ guard Zion Stanford drove into the paint with six seconds left on the clock and attempted to take the win. Instead, the ball got caught between him and the hands of forward Robert Braswell IV and a jump ball was called.
The 49ers regained possession with three seconds remaining but guard Nik Graves’ shot bounced off the front of the rim and overtime was needed. Charlotte completely took command of overtime and cruised to a win in the extra five minutes.
Temple (14-13, 6-8 American Athletic Conference) was defeated by Charlotte (10-17, 3-11 AAC) 78-72 in overtime Wednesday afternoon at Halton Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Owls have lost all four games that guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. has missed with a toe injury.
The Owls jumped out to a four-point lead but things quickly went downhill from there. The 49ers immediately responded with two free throws from Graves and a three by guard Jaehshon Thomas off a turnover. Temple guard Aiden Tobiason briefly took back the advantage with a layup but the Owls didn’t lead again until the end of the first half.
The 49ers set screens to get open looks from three and it worked flawlessly, as the Owls got lost due to miscommunication. Charlotte took 11 shots from deep in the first half but only four connected, with two of them coming from Graves.
Temple struggled to contain Graves in its previous matchup with Charlotte, where the Owls pulled away with a one-point double overtime win on Jan. 29. Graves scored 26 points in that game and was equally as dominant Wednesday, finishing the first half with 16.
Temple guard Quante Berry has become one of the Owls’ most reliable players but struggled against the 49ers. Berry’s ineffectiveness without Mashburn forced Tobiason and Stanford to step up.
The guards scored 13 straight points for the Owls, which was the only thing keeping them in the game. However, the two versus five was not sustainable and Temple fell to a 10-point deficit at 27-17.
Tobiason took it upon himself to handle the ball and began directing traffic. The freshman informed Berry where to go from the inbound pass and promptly called for the ball back. Tobiason swished a deep three to cap off a seven point run to cut the score to 27-24 with under six minutes left in the first half.
That’s when the rest of the Owls started contributing, specifically the frontcourt. Forwards Babatunde Durodola, Steve Settle III and Elijah Gray all added points to the scoreboard to trail by just two points with less than four minutes remaining in the opening half.
Temple’s backcourt followed suit with guard Shane Dezonie tying the game at 33 and guard Matteo Picarelli taking the lead with a three-pointer. The Owls pushed their lead to four but went into halftime with just a one-point lead at 39-38.
Graves opened the second half looking to take command of the game and immediately knocked down a three. The guard ended the night with 23 points on 50% shooting from the field and 3-8 from three-point range.
Charlotte started shooting from downtown again with five three-pointers in the second half. Each triple came from a different 49er, making it difficult for a struggling Temple defense. But Charlotte was still unable to pull away entirely.
Another saving grace for Temple was free throws. There were five 49ers who had at least three fouls and the Owls were sent to the line 26 times. Temple scored 19 points from the charity stripe on 73% shooting while Charlotte shot 16-18.
The Owls had three players score in double figures with Stanford leading the way with a career-high 26 points. Berry averages 11 points per game but could not make a bucket in his 25 minutes on the court, marking just his second scoreless game this season.
Every player in a Temple jersey recorded a rebound but the squad still lost the rebound battle. Charlotte hauled in two more defensive rebounds than the Owls but picked up nine offensive boards compared to Temple’s four.
Thomas started the overtime period the same way he started the game, with a three. Braswell followed it up with a driving layup to take a five point lead at 73-68. Stanford was finally able to get Temple points with a layup of his own but the Owls scored just one more time after that.
Temple will stay on the road and look to snap its five-game losing streak when it takes on UAB (16-9, 9-3 AAC) on Feb. 23 at 2 p.m.
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