GREENVILLE – The Men’s basketball team faced off against the East Carolina Pirates tonight, but the Owls did not abandon ship. Temple beat ECU 70-56 for their twenty-first victory of the season, and their first trip to Greenville in program history.
Will Cummings filled the stat sheet with his brilliant play, piling up a game high 16 points and adding seven rebounds, six assists, and three steals in a game where the Owls clinched a first-round bye in the AAC Tournament with the win.
Temple trailed early in the first-half, after ECU started the game on an 11-3 run, but the Owls fought back thanks to huge first-half threes from Quenton DeCosey and Josh Brown. Brown and DeCosey combined for 13 first-half points and the Owls held a 41-33 halftime lead and it was full speed ahead from there.
DeCosey grabbed a career high nine rebounds in the Owls previous win against Houston, and continued to be a beast on the boards, pulling down a game high eight in the win tonight.
While guys like Jesse Morgan and Jaylen Bond struggled all night to find a rhythm, Brown and DeCosey stepped up. The two finished with 11 points each in a must win game for the Owls.
As far as the Owls NCAA Tournament hopes, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi projects the Owls will be one of the last four teams in, but stated that Temple still isn’t in the clear. Temple (21-9, 12-5) will host UCONN (17-12, 10-7) on Saturday at 2PM for the final game of the season. Saturday also marks Temple’s Senior Night where seniors Will Cummings, Jesse Morgan, Nick Pendergast, and Jimmy McDonnell will play their final regular season game at the Liacouras Center.
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