Temple, coming off a win against AAC foe UCF, entered the Big Easy with a respectable 11-4 record. Hubris, in any amount, can lead to upsets but the Owls fought back to take their third straight conference game against Tulane 64-56.
Temple, coming into the game as one of the worst shooting teams in the nation, had their fair share of struggles in the first half.
The Green Wave opened on a 11-3 run before senior Jesse Morgan knocked down a triple. The Owls were 1-8 before the made field goal by the UMASS transfer.
The Cherry and White crusaded their way to their first lead on a Josh Brown layup. Owls up 16-15.
After trading threes, the scoring drought made an appearance in the first half as the team failed to score in a five minute period.
The Owls managed to cut the lead to two by the end of the half but couldn’t contain freshman center Dylan Osetkowski who dropped eight points off the bench. SG Jay Hook also put up 9 with three triples for Tulane.
Scoreless in the first half, Jaylen Bond opened up the second with consecutive baskets for the Owls and also received help from PG Will Cummings to put the Owls up five with 16:09 to go.
Temple pushed the lead to double digits on a three from Quenton DeCosey and free throws from Brown to go up 10.
Tulane’s Louis Dabney struggled in the game shooting under 25 percent but went on a personal run of eight, with a Hook’ Dunk mixed in, to salvage the game to a one point Temple lead. Tre Drye would tie the game on a free throw but would dominate the glass leading to a Morgan triple.
Owls up seven with 2:07 to go.
Hook would once again knock down a shot beyond the perimeter but the Owls won a free throw battle to close out a 64-56 triumph.
Four Owls finished in double figures with DeCosey leading the pace with 15. Temple finished shooting under 35 percent but went 15-20 on the charity stripe and won the rebounding battle against the small lineup of Tulane who used their center off the bench.
Temple (12-4, 3-0) heads home January 10 to face Tulsa in another AAC battle
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