The only lead for Fairleigh Dickinson came just over 3 minutes into the game when the Knight’s Stephan Jiggets sunk a three point shot in front of coach Dunphy and the Temple bench. Temple won their second straight, and took down FDU by a score of 79-70 for their 11th straight win in the Liacouras Center.
Early on, Fairleigh Dickinson caught fire from beyond the arc, connecting on three of their first four attempts from deep. Coming in averaging just 5.6 three pointers per game, they nearly surpassed that mark in the first half alone netting 5 of their 10 attempts. The Owls seemed like the better team for most of the first twenty minutes, out rebounding FDU 22-12 and leading for more than 70 percent of play.
Leading scorer Quenton DeCosey (14.2 ppg) came out strong for the Owls in the first half and finished even stronger. Racking in 9 total points and finished the game with a comfortable 22 points, he had a game high 8 rebounds as well. Josh Brown’s 7 assists lead the Owls. Other scoring contributions came from Jaylen Bond with 18 and Devin Coleman with 9.
The Knights ended the first half on a 13-2 run which kept the game within 2 points heading into the locker room, Temple leading 36-34.
The Knight’s senior forward Earl Potts Jr. (13.9 ppg) kept Fairleigh Dickinson from slipping too far in the scoreboard, tallying 14 first-half points and finished with a game high 29 points.
The Owls came into the contest leading the AAC in three-point field goals made per game with 9, and went just 2 for 11 in the first half. The Owls went to the strike for a good percent of their points, going 12-13 in the first half and finishing 26-28. The Owls averaged just over 14 free throw attempts in their first 5 games.
4:18 into the second half, the Owls found themselves on a 13-4 run behind an eight point burst from senior Jaylen Bond. Bond credited the run to coach Dunphy “waking the team up” in the locker room at halftime. Bond’s 18 points was just one point under his season-high.
The Owls kept the momentum rolling, ending with a season-high 79 points.
With 1:17 left in the game, the Owls lead the Knights 77-61, and the ‘I Believe’ chant ensued from the student section.
The Owls will face one of their toughest opponents thus far on Saturday as they travel down to Madison to take on the Badgers of Wisconsin. “We have to be very cautious of our defensive assignments, we can’t take too many possessions off,” noted Coach Dunphy.
Be the first to comment