Temple University men’s basketball scored its first points when senior guard Quinton Rose made a layup in the first half with 10 minutes and 27 seconds remaining.
Before Rose’s layup, Penn (8-7, 0-2 Ivy League) built a 14-0 lead, which helped it beat Temple (10-9, 2-5 The American Athletic Conference) 66-59 Saturday afternoon at The Palestra. Temple never held a lead throughout the game.
“It didn’t really feel good,” Rose said. “We all missed shots early. It was like there was a rhythm so we just had to rely on our defense. For the most part, it was good, but it just took us a while to get going offensively.”
Even though Temple never led in the game, they kept it close against the Quakers. After Penn led by as many as 16 points with four minutes and 27 seconds remaining in the first half, the Owls pulled within nine by halftime. After the Quakers’ 14-0 start, the Owls ended the half on a 16-11 run.
With a minute left in the game, Rose made a dunk after stealing the ball from Quakers senior guard Ryan Betley, which pulled the Owls within six. On the next possession, Quakers senior guard Devon Goodman threw the ball out of bounds on an inbounds pass.
During the ensuing possession, redshirt-junior guard Monty Scott missed a wide-open layup with 48 seconds left. If Scott made the layup, the Owls only would have been down four. After Scott’s miss, the Quakers made seven free throws to end the game.
Even though the Owls kept the game close, Temple could not take the lead due to its poor shooting performance. The Owls ended the game with a 30.7 percent shooting performance.
The Owls only made six shots from the field on 32 attempts in the first half, which translates to 18.8 percent. The Owls’ shooting in the second half was slightly better at 39.5 percent. Overall, the Owls only made one three-pointer on 13 attempts. The Owls’ lone three of the game came from junior forward J.P. Moorman II with 13 minutes and 27 seconds remaining in the second half.
“We’re just putting too much pressure on our defense because of our offense,” coach Aaron McKie said. “It’s being comfortable. It’s being confident. Whether it’s attacking the basket, getting in there finishing in traffic or being confident in taking and knocking down an open shot. It’s that simple.”
After struggling to make shots in the first half, the Quakers turned it around in the second half. Penn made 54.2 percent of their shots from the field and 50 percent from three in the last 20 minutes of the game.
Four of the Quakers’ starters—Betley, Goodman, freshman guard Jordan Dingle and senior forward AJ Brodeur—scored in double digits. Brodeur, Betley, Goodman and Dingle combined for 57 of the Quakers’ total points.
Brodeur led the Quakers with 19 points. Brodeur also had 14 rebounds to post a double-double. Brodeur shot 6-of-12 from the field and made six of his eight free throw attempts. He also recorded six assists.
Brodeur was a tough player for the Owls to guard in the post, sophomore forward Jake Forrester said.
“I knew following the game plan that he’s really skilled in the post,” Forrester said. “I was just trying to do my best to contain as much as I could. It was just one-on-one in the post where we didn’t have any plan to double team.”
Dingle recorded 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field. Goodman scored 12 points while making five of his 11 shots from the field. Betley also posted a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Brodeur and Betley combined for 28 of the Quakers’ 48 rebounds.
Rose recorded 21 points to lead all scorers. Rose made 10-of-25 shots from the field, attempting a third of the Owls’ 75 shots.
The rest of the Owls only accounted for 38 points. Forrester recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Nate Pierre-Louis added nine points and seven rebounds. Scott added eight points off the bench.
“I just knew we were down and we had to make something happen quickly so I’d just thought I’d attack the basket and help kick it out to my teammates,” Rose said.
With the loss, the Owls dropped their first Big 5 match of the season after beating La Salle and St. Joseph’s earlier this season. Temple has one remaining Big 5 match against Villanova on Feb. 16.
The Owls have now dropped six of their last seven games. They will return to conference play when they go to Connecticut on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
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