The Temple Owls fell to the Cincinnati Bearcats Saturday 84-53 dropping the team to their third straight loss on the season.
With the absence of senior PG Will Cummings, the Owls entered hostile territory without the leader of the offense. Cincy was 12-4 heading into the showdown with Temple and was also looking for their first win in three games.
Once again without head coach Mick Cronin due to illness, Cincinnati rolled to a 7-0 advantage early as the Owls struggled going 0-6 from the field. No layups or mid range shots were attempted.
Temple would respond, however, with Jaylen Bond laying it in to give the Owls a 9-7 advantage. The Owls would push their lead to five on a Jesse Morgan triple but Cincy didn’t go away as guard Octavius Ellis knocked down six free throws in the first half.
Temple was down one heading into the half with Morgan leading the team with 10 points.
Similarly to the start of the first half, Cincy went on a 9-0 run highlighted by Gary Clark who had four points on the run. Freshman Obi Enechionyia sank a three to limit the lead to six, but the Bearcats embarked on a second half onslaught.
An 8-0 run put the home team up 50-34 with 12:17 left to go. The lead ballooned to 29 three minutes after with Jermaine Sanders knocking down a three with 8:38 remaining.
Bond and Mark Williams would chip in five points each in garbage time but Cincinnati romped the Owls late in the game as the Bearcats dropped a ridiculous 55 points in the half.
Sanders led all players with 16 points and Jesse Morgan had a productive game with 15. Enechionyia had a career high 14 off the bench.
Cincy out-rebounded the Owls by 16 on the boards and had seven steals to Temple’s one.The win flipped the teams in the standings with Cincinnati now at five with the Owls claiming the sixth spot in the AAC.
Temple (12-7, 3-3) heads home to face USF Thursday at the Liacouras Center.
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