Temple’s roller coaster season is turning into a roll over season. Although most of their games are still coming down to the wire, 12 of which being decided by 5 or less points, they are starting to be able to finish out those close games. They have won 6 of their last 7, and 9 of their last 11 contests.
The Houston heat definitely rubbed off on the Owls in the first half, or more so Obi Enechionyia. Enechionyia was 6/9 from behind the arc and achieved a new career high of 26 points. The Owls started the half on a 10-2 run, holding a lead as high as 13 points against the Cougars. However, a blow out was not in the cards for this matchup. Once Houston’s spark off the bench, Rob Gray Jr., checked in, so did the Cougar’s offense. Gray and DeCosey went head-to-head, Gray being the leading scorer in the AAC and DeCosey being the third. Gray dropped 20 points while DeCosey only had 8, it is safe to say the Gray may have won the battle, but DeCosey won the war since the Owl’s defeated the Cougars on their home court.
In the first half, Houston’s bench was highly efficient while Temple’s bench was absent to say the least.
The second half, like the first seemed like one team was going to pull away for a knockout, this half being Houston’s turn. Houston led the majority of the second half after trailing the entire first half. They led the Owls by as much as 10 points, but it was not long before the tug-of-war battle started up, once again.
Temple’s anthem throughout the season seems to be that the entire game can be summed up in the final minutes of play. After going back and forth the entire game, the game was all tied up with just 30.5 seconds to play. Devin Coleman, Mr. Reliable, hit just his second 3 of the night to give the Owls a 67-64 lead with only 12.6 remaining. Houston was not able score and turned the ball over with 6 seconds. Josh Brown went to the line for Temple and dropped both free throws to seal the deal for the Owls, 69-66.
The Owls are the first team in the AAC to reach 11 wins and are 11-3 in conference play, and 17-9 overall.
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