Temple is the Big Cheese on Broad St. with 59-55 Win Over Wisconsin

Sixteen lead changes, eight ties and 52 free throws are just a few significant digits from Temple’s matchup against Wisconsin.

 

Temple and Wisconsin kept fans on the their toes right up until the final seconds of the game. The Owls were barely able to pull out a 59-55 win over the badgers to improve to 5-2. This matchup went down to the wire and the stat sheet proved that. There was a total of 16 lead changes and the score was all tied up 8 times and remained tied at 55 until the 1:09 minute mark. Wisconsin grabbed 33 rebounds, Temple grabbed 32. The Owls 12 assists and the Badgers had 14. Temple had 26 points in the pain and Wisconsin had 30. This is the kind of match up that played out the entire 40 minutes. “This is good Temple team. We knew that coming in, and we knew we were going to have to play solid for a good 40 minutes,” said Wisconsin head coach, Greg Gard. “We played solid for about 36 to 37 minutes.”

 

The Badgers had a chance to put the game out of reach with under 30 seconds to play. There was 27.6 seconds on the clock, Wisconsin ball, no shot clock. A big rebound from Quinton Rose with 12 seconds to go would do it for the Owls. This forced the Badgers to foul, and they unfortunately put Temple’s best free throw shooter on the line. Shizz Alston went 6-6 from the charity stripe, including four in the final minute of the game to ice the game for the Owls

 

With those six free throws against Wisconsin, Shizz Alston set a new Temple record. He is now 24-24 on this season, and has not missed a foul shot since December 28th, 2016. This puts him at 52 consecutive made free throws, surpassing Temple great, Lynn Greer’s previous record of 49 straight free throws. Alston was not just scoring from the foul line. The junior went 7-15 from the field for 22 points, and grabbed 3 rebound while contributing up 4 assists.

 

Obi Enechionyia also played a big role in the Owls’ victory. The big man grabbed 7 rebounds and knocked out 4 blocks, while contributing 11 points to the offense. Josh Brown was two boards shy of picking up a double-double. Brown dropped 10 points while leading the Owls on the boards with 8 total rebounds.

 

The Owls will be back on Broad Street Saturday December 9th to take on Big Five rival, the St. Joe’s Hawks. Tip off is set for 2:30 on CBS Sports.