After being relegated to the consolation bracket of the Diamond Head Classic following a loss to Nevada, Temple Men’s Basketball held a three-point lead seven minutes into its matchup against Old Dominion. The Owls were looking to bounce back against the Monarchs, who had just three wins on the season.
Temple then missed seven shots in the next six minutes and allowed the Monarchs to take the lead. They could not find any rhythm en route to dropping their third straight game.
Temple (6-6, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Old Dominion (4-8, 0-0 Sun Belt) 80-56 Friday evening at the SimpliFi Arena in Honolulu. The Owls’ offensive struggles continue to plague them during their losing streak.
Temple’s offense started the game well, keeping pace with Old Dominion after struggling offensively against Nevada. However, the Monarchs took advantage of two Temple scoring droughts in the first half to extend their lead. Guard Vasean Allette led the charge, ending the first half with 11 points.
Temple continued to rely on its outside shooting, ending the half with only six of its 31 points coming from in the paint.
The Owls did not have a strong start to the second half, allowing Old Dominion’s lead to balloon to 11 points three minutes into the second half. Temple fought back, bringing the game to within three points halfway through the final period, but the Monarchs outscored the Owls 20-10 in the last eight minutes to close out their win.
Allette continued getting to the rim with ease in the second half. He grabbed eight rebounds to go with 24 points on the night, leading all scorers for the game.
Temple’s continued scoring struggles hurt them as the game came to a close. The Owls shot about 36 percent from the field and 32 percent from three in the game. Aside from guard Hysier Miller, the Owls could not score consistently. Miller, guard Shane Dezonie and forward Sam Hofman were the only three Owls that scored more than 10 points.
Guard Jordan Riley made his return after missing two straight games with an illness but struggled, shooting just 2-7 from the field in 20 minutes.
Guard Jahlil White scored just four points before appearing to re-injure his right finger with four minutes remaining. White returned to the lineup on Dec. 16 after missing five games due to his injury against Columbia on Nov. 18.
The Owls will end their trip to Hawaii with a matchup against either UMass (6-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10) or Portland (6-7, 0-0 West Coast Conference) on Dec. 24 at 3:30 p.m.
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