Temple appeared to be in for a crash-landing as Rhode Island took a 16-point lead a few minutes into the second half. The Owls’ offense was disjointed, leading-scorer guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. was out of sync and the defense couldn’t get set due to the Rams’ pace in transition.
Head coach Adam Fisher called upon his bench for answers. Guard Shane Dezonie sparked an 8-0 run that brought the Owls within single digits. From there, Temple continued to trust its game plan and chipped away at Rhode Island’s lead and eventually took the lead with five minutes to go.
The Owls delivered their hardest punches, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. Rhode Island guard Sebastian Thomas rattled off six consecutive points in the last 37 seconds, including a four-point play which wound up being the knockout punch.
Temple (7-5, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Rhode Island (11-1, 0-0 Atlantic-10) 85-79 Saturday night at the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts. Temple trailed by as many as 16 points before mounting a comeback effort but collapsed in the final minute of play.
Temple’s offensive flow was disrupted to start the game, as the Rams’ hard-nosed defense held the Owls in check. Mashburn was unable to work around the defense and misfired on eight of his first nine shot attempts. Forward Steve Settle III stepped up to provide an offensive punch while Mashburn struggled to keep pace with the Rams.
Settle drilled the Owls’ first three-pointer of the game to get them rolling. The early shot was a sign of things to come for Settle as he notched 12 points on 4-4 shooting from downtown in the first half. He served as both a pull-up and spot-up threat from beyond the arc which made him difficult to defend.
The Owls’ strong defensive presence caused Rhode Island to turn the ball over six times in eight minutes of play, which Temple converted into seven points. The Owls used the momentum and quickly turned the game into an offensive affair amid a 13-5 run. Temple found success in the paint, with half of its first-half points coming inside the arc.
The Rams re-established a rhythm with a 14-2 run of its own to regain a 29-25 lead. The Owls’ offense went stagnant which ruined their early momentum and Rhode Island took advantage. The Rams pushed the tempo off each Temple miss, which allowed them to dominate down low as 22 of their 35 first-half points came in the paint. Temple’s frontcourt had been its Achilles heel to begin the year and the Rams continued that trend.
The Owls’ saving grace in the first half was Rhode Island’s poor efficiency from the perimeter which kept them in the game. The Rams only connected on four of its 15 attempts from the three-point line and allowed Temple to stay within arms reach. Temple found its offense again and entered halftime with a 36-35 lead.
Instead of being able to ride its momentum, Temple came out of the locker room flat and the Rams took advantage. Rhode Island immediately flipped the script by opening up on a 10-0 run and Temple’s offense was unable to combat the Rams’ avalanche.
Matters only got worse for the Owls as the Rams obtained their largest lead of the game at 16 points. Forwards David Green and Tyonn Ferrell thrived in semi-transition, finishing the night with 17 and eight points respectively, as the Owls’ offense appeared dead in the water.
However, the Owls got hot to pull themselves out of the grave. Dezonie headlined an 8-0 run with a pair of triples and a drive that created a corner three for Settle to resurrect the Owls’ offense.
Temple’s defense came alive as the offense started to roll, obtaining two takeaways in less than a minute to get easy looks on the open floor. Temple finished with 20 points off of its 16 takeaways. The Owls cut Rhode Island’s lead to single digits as the Rams suffered a four-minute field goal drought.
Temple’s depth helped cut into the lead as the Owls finished with 43 bench points. Guards Zion Stanford, Quante Berry and forward Dillon Battie injected a much-needed burst of energy off the bench with timely defensive rotations and a quick offensive pace.
Mashburn finally found his footing when the Owls needed him most. The graduate student gave the Owls their first lead since the end of the first half at 72-71 with a pair of mid-range jump shots. Mashburn finished the night with 14 points with nine coming in the second half, but shot just 5 of 20 from the field for his third straight game with 20 points or less.
Both teams settled down offensively as the defensive effort on both sides intensified. The game was tied at 79 as Rhode Island possessed the ball with 37 seconds left. Thomas drilled a fatal three and was fouled by Berry on a late closeout to give the Rams a four-point lead.
Mashburn tried to make it a two-point game with the Owls down by four, but his pull-up jumper ricocheted off the rim. The Owls went on to play the foul game, but the loss was inevitable.
Temple will now have more than a week off before it returns to The Liacouras Center to take on Buffalo (5-6, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) on Dec. 29 at 3 p.m.
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