
After storming out to a 15-point lead, Temple was on the ropes late in the second half against nationally-ranked Memphis. The Owls have been no stranger to giving up sizable leads this season and Thursday’s game seemed to be yet another example.
The Tigers started to come back and the Owls had no response as the lead quickly dwindled down to as little as two late in the second half. Temple pushed the lead back up to five with a little more than a minute left and was looking for a knockout blow.
The Owls found it when a guarded Zion Stanford found guard Quante Berry cutting to an open basket. Stanford dished the ball to Berry who proceeded to lay the ball up while being fouled to push the lead to seven. From there, Memphis played the free throw game but it wasn’t enough to stop Temple from pulling off the upset.
Temple (11-6, 3-1 American Athletic Conference) upset No. 18 Memphis (13-4, 3-1 AAC) 88-81 Thursday night at The Liacouras Center. The win is the Owls’ first against a ranked opponent since they took down No. 1 Houston on Jan. 22, 2023.
“Really proud of these guys,” said head coach Adam Fisher. “We talked a lot about rebounding, rebounding, rebounding and we had plus 24. I thought our guys had great attention to detail from the start and it’s a great credit to them. We talked about it for three days, poise, poise, poise, against pressure.”
Both teams raced out of the gate in the opening minutes hoping to jump out to an early lead. Former Temple forward Nick Jourdain scored 12 seconds in for Memphis and Temple guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. answered right back. Afterward, the fast-paced offense didn’t lead to points and both teams played hot potato with the ball to start.
Memphis kicked off the scoring action but Temple answered each bucket and tied the game at seven after five minutes. Forward Elijah Gray gave the Owls their first lead of the game with a jumper and Mashburn added to it with two free throws to take a four-point advantage amid a 7-0 run.
The Tigers erupted with four quick points to retake the lead before Gray was there to knock down a triple to rip the lead right back. The game then became a back-and-forth battle again with both sides matching points.
Out of nowhere, Temple went on a seven-point barrage and began to pull away with Berry leading the way. He scored from beyond the arc and followed it up with a tip-in to give Temple a six-point lead. Berry’s impressive stretch of play continued and he finished the night with a career-high 19 points.
“That’s what I think makes our team a team,” Fisher said. “Our guys are excited for the next guy and who’s got it going. And we got different matchups. So I think they’ve been doing it all year and it’s a great credit to them.”
Temple’s defense went the extra mile and held the Tigers scoreless for nearly four minutes. Memphis guard Tyrese Hunter cut the deficit with a three-point shot but the Owls responded with their own shot from downtown from Mashburn and two from guard Shane Dezonie to jump to a 32-23 lead, which the Owls held for a 36-30 halftime lead.
The Owls opened the second half fast with five points from Berry. Memphis attempted to flip the script but Temple, using the energy of the lively home crowd during whiteout night, pushed the game even further out of reach. The Owls used an 11-1 run, fueled by a three and two free throws from forward Steve Settle III, to take a 15-point lead at 52-37.
From there, the Tigers began to mount a comeback hoping to ruin Temple’s upset bid. Memphis scored to trail by only six points twice but Dezonie corralled in three offensive rebounds before his put-back fell to keep Memphis out of reach just enough with nine minutes remaining.
Dezonie, who has been one of Temple’s most important pieces coming off the bench, continued to impress Thursday night. The senior finished the night with 15 points and 13 rebounds, marking his sixth consecutive game he’s scored in double figures.
“A little bit of this strategy [goes into rebounding],” Dezonie said. “We pride ourselves on just trying to rebound the ball better. Coach Fish has instilled that in us and some of it is just pride. I just really want the basketball. I really want to win for my team. I really want to play as hard as I can just make Temple look the best as we can.”
Tigers’ guard PJ Haggerty entered the night ranked third in the nation in scoring, averaging 22.4 points per game. But Temple held him to just two points on four shot attempts in the first 20 minutes. However, Haggerty found a groove in the second half, scoring 19 points and becoming the driving force in Memphis’ comeback attempt.
Temple found a way to balloon the lead back up to eight in the final two minutes of play and the rest of the game began a free-throw battle. The Tigers attempted to make the game interesting but were held at arm’s length the rest of the way through.
“We treat every game the same,” Fisher said. “We go into every game with the exact same preparation. For us, this is our approach, this is what we do. We’re very consistent with it, so that no game becomes too big or too low.”
Temple will look to keep their new-found momentum rolling when they host Tulane (10-8, 4-1 AAC) on Jan. 19 at 1 p.m.
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