Temple (3-3) closed out its competition in the Charleston Classic strong, beating the University of Alabama at Birmingham (4-2) 87-66 in the tournament’s fifth-place game.
Coming off a career-high 22 points against Georgia on Friday, senior Dalton Pepper set a new personal mark of 24 points that led the Owls against the Blazers. Sophomore Quenton DeCosey also scored a career-high, 18 points. Junior Anthony Lee posted his third double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Owls benefited from 14 UAB turnovers, off which they scored 19 points.
Both teams shot well during the first half, with both the Owls and the Blazers shooting over 50 percent. There were 12 lead changes during the first half, and nine ties. At halftime, the game was tied at 39-39.
The second half, however, belonged to Temple. The Owls went on a 19-7 run during the early minutes of the half, which resulted in a 64-51 lead with 10:43 remaining in the game. Seven straight points from Pepper gave Temple its largest lead of the night of 21 points.
Unlike earlier games, Temple did not let its second half lead fade away. UAB was able to cut the Owls’ lead to 12 with 4:51 remaining in the game, but that was the closest the Blazers got.
Temple will have the week off, as the team will return to action Dec. 4 at home against St. Joseph’s.
Avery Maehrer can be reached at avery.maehrer@temple.edu or on Twitter @AveryMaehrer.
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