Senior guard Quinton Rose made a three pointer with two minutes and 28 seconds remaining in overtime to put Temple up by four points.
Rose’s shot gave him three of the 10 points he scored in the overtime period. Rose’s play led Temple (12-11, 4-7 The American Athletic Conference) to a comeback win against Southern Methodist (16-6, 6-4 The AAC) on Saturday afternoon at the Liacouras Center. The Owls outscored the Mustangs in overtime 17-10 to win 97-90.
Rose led all scorers with 25 points. Rose converted on 9-of-20 attempts from the field and added eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks.
Rose struggled to adjust to the Mustangs’ zone defense at first, but found ways to disrupt it, he said.
“It felt really good because early on in the game and early in the season when teams go zone, we don’t really do too well with it,” Rose said. “But I just found an opening in the middle.”
The Owls took their first lead of the second half when senior guard Alani Moore II made a three to put his team up 78-77 with one minute and four seconds remaining. Moore finished with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. All four of his shots from the field came from the three-point line. Moore II added four rebounds and five assists.
Redshirt-junior guard Monty Scott then made a jumper to put the Owls up 80-77 with 25 seconds left.
Moore II then fouled Mustangs junior guard Tyson Jolly while attempting a three pointer with 13 seconds left. Jolly made all three free throws to tie the game at 80 to send it to overtime.
“I’ve seen somebody mess up the switch, so I ran over there and tried to contest,” Moore said. “My fault for jumping… I don’t think I fouled him, but they called the foul. I just tried to move on to the next play. It is what it is.”
In the second half, the Owls outscored the Mustangs 49-32 after being down 48-31 at halftime. The Owls made 68 percent of their shots from the field in the last 20 minutes of the game while the Mustangs shot at a 36 percent clip.
The Owls only missed one three pointer on seven attempts in the second half while the Mustangs were 3-of-10 from beyond the arc.
“They made shots early on and we figured they were gonna cool down a little bit,” coach Aaron McKie said. “We wanted to change our defensive coverage a little bit and do some switching. Just take them out of rhythm.”
The Mustangs dominated the first 20 minutes of the game. In the first half, the Mustangs made 63 percent of their shots from the field while the Owls only made 46.4 percent of their shots. The Mustangs also dominated in three-point shooting as they made 9-of-14 of their shots. The Owls struggled from beyond the arc, going 2-of-11 in the first half.
“It was no surprise to me,” McKie said. “They’re a really good offensive team. One of the better offensive teams in the country. They shoot the ball well. They got a really, really good point guard who sets the table for those guys.”
Redshirt-freshman forward Arashma Parks landed on his shoulder after a rebound attempt with four minutes and 27 seconds left in the first half. With junior forwards J.P. Moorman II and De’Vondre Perry also out of the rotation, some of the Owls’ bench players had an increased role.
Scott scored a season-high 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field in 36 minutes of play. Freshman guard Josh Pierre-Louis scored nine points in 25 minutes off the bench. All nine of his points came from the three-point line.
Senior center Damion Moore scored nine points in 10 minutes of play. Moore made all four of his shots from the field. Moore also secured four rebounds.
“That was awesome,” McKie said. “Really just rooting for [Moore]. He stepped in, made the call, kept himself ready and delivered for us. He gave us a physical presence in the middle. In the defensive side, he gave us something on the inside.”
Next, the Owls will go to New Orleans to play Tulane (10-12, 2-8 The AAC) on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
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