Owls offense fails to keep up in 14-point loss to Memphis

With nine minutes and 31 seconds remaining in the second half, Memphis freshman guard Lester Quinones looked up at the shot clock and realized it was about to expire. Quinones quickly pump-faked a three getting Temple junior guard Nate Pierre-Louis out of position and then drained a three-pointer right as the shot clock expired. 

Temple men’s basketball (11-11, 3-7 The American Athletic Conference) lost 79-65 on the road against Memphis (17-5, 6-3 The AAC) on Wednesday night. 

Quinones’ three-pointer put Memphis ahead 54-43 just one minute after the Owls had cut Memphis’ lead down to 48-43. Quinones finished the game with 21 points while shooting 4-for-9 from three-point range. 

The Tigers’ second-leading scorer was freshman guard Boogie Ellis who finished the game with 18 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field. 

The Owls struggled to shoot the ball again against the Tigers. Temple shot 34.9 percent from the field, including 28.6 percent from three-point range. Memphis finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from three-point range. 

Senior guard Quinton Rose and Pierre-Louis tied for the team lead with 13 points each. Rose shot 5-for-17 from the field and Pierre-Louis shot 4-for-13 from the field. 

Pierre-Louis drained a three-pointer with 18 minutes, 29 seconds remaining in the second half when he received a pass from junior forward J.P. Moorman II to pull the Owls within six points. 

As a team, Temple committed just 12 turnovers compared to Memphis’ 16. However, Memphis scored 19 points off of turnovers while the Owls scored 16. 

Temple trailed by at eight at halftime due in large part to its poor shooting. The Owls shot just 27.3 percent from the field in the first half while shooting just 20 percent from beyond the three-point line. 

Although Temple fought back in the second half, they were unable to make up the deficit. The Owls took a 6-0 lead to begin the game, which was their largest lead of the game. 

Temple’s next game is at home against Southern Methodist (16-5, 6-3 The AAC) on Saturday at noon.