Owls still finding themselves after win over Morgan State

Good teams have chemistry, and there are few things that have better chemistry than brothers. For the Owls, coach Aaron McKie is loving the early connection of  Nate and Josh Pierre-Louis. The brothers brought the backyard fun to the hardwood in Temple’s 75 – 57 route of Morgan State.

Nate Pierre-Louis notched his 3rd consecutive double-double dating back to last year’s NCAA tournament game versus Belmont. Nate’s brother, Josh, scored his first basket as an Owl with a “Nate Pierre-Louis-esque” putback slam in the first half.

“Anything he does even if it’s wrong I’m still going to be happy for him” said brother Nate Pierre-Louis after the game. 

After an 8 point win over Drexel on Tuesday night, Coach Aaron McKie and the Owls (2-0) hoped to keep up the pace and limit the turnovers against Morgan State (1-1).

Temple had only 6 turnovers compared to Morgan States’ 19. They kept the tempo fast, converting on fast breaks turning steals into baskets. On offense, the Owls were led by guards Nate Pierre-Louis, Quinton Rose and Alani Moore totalling 49 of Temples 75 points. Forward De’Vondre Perry added 12 off the bench.

“We hang our hat on our defense.” said Coach McKie after the Win. The Owls did just that holding the Bears to 28% shooting from 3, 35% from the field and tallying 14 total steals.

Rebounding has been a constant pain for the Owls since last season.  J.P. Moorman (3Pts 7Rebs 1Blk), Quinton Rose (16Pts 6Rebs 1Stl) and Nate Pierre-Louis combined for 24 rebounds, while big man Damion Moore (4Pts 5Rebs 1Blk) chipped in with 5. Alani Moore (3-10 3PT)  and De’Vondre Perry (2-3 3PT) made noise behind the arch for the Owls, going 5-13 while combining for 26 points.

Temple broke away in the middle of the 2nd half capped off by a loud Quinton Rose slam. Morgan State hung around for a bit with balanced help between Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. (12Pts 5Reb 2Ast) Isaiah Burke (11Pts 5Reb 2Ast) and Stanley Davis Jr. (10Pts 7reb 3Ast), but it was not enough losing by 18 points.

Temple is back in action November 16 (Sat) at 2PM as they will travel to Big 5 rival LaSalle University.