In yet another reshuffled lineup go-around that saw Temple get two players back but lose another, the Owls scratched out a gritty, 81-77 win at Tulsa Tuesday night, their first road victory in almost two months.
Once again without leading scorer Jamal Mashburn Jr. as he continues to recover from a toe injury, Temple welcomed back forward Steve Settle III and guard Quante Berry but played without reserve guard Shane Dezonie, who stayed behind in Philadelphia after not practicing all weekend due to an illness.
With Zion Stanford’s team-high 20 points leading the way, Temple (16-14 overall, 8-9 American Athletic Conference) got 15 points in Settle’s return after he missed the Owls’ win over South Florida last week because he was sick. The 6-foot-10 forward shot 5-of-7 from the floor, 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and pulled down eight rebounds in helping Temple outrebound Tulsa, 38-29.
Matteo Picarelli jumped into the starting lineup and chipped in eight points in 22 minutes, and fellow guard Aiden Tobiason scored all seven of his points in the second half. The 6-5 freshman tied the game at 74 on two free throws with 1:29 left to play, and he put the Owls ahead for good on Temple’s ensuing possession when he shot faked past Tulsa guard Keaston Willis (game-high 22 points) and dropped in a layup with 54 seconds remaining.
Tulsa (11-19, 5-12) had a chance to tie the game after Tobiason’s bucket, but Dwon Odom hit just 1 of his 2 foul shots on the next trip down the floor, and Berry scored four of his seven points inside the game’s final 26 seconds by going a perfect 4-for-4 from the line. Temple as a team shot 21-of-26 on free throws, including 14-for-18 in the second half.
In a game that saw 12 ties and 12 lead changes, the Owls led by as many as 13 points in the first half, pulling at 36-23 with the help of a 16-2 run. Picarelli, Stanford and Settle all hit threes during that stretch, with Settle (six) and Stanford (five) combining for 11 of Temple’s 16 points in that span. Tulsa closed out the first half on a 9-4 run and scored eight of the first 10 points in the second half to cut the Owls’ lead to two and keep things close the rest of the way.
Stanford put together one of his better games of the season, shooting 8-of-15 from the floor and assembling seven rebounds and a team-high five assists to go with just one turnover in 35 minutes. Freshman forward Dillon Battiecontinued his recent stretch of improved play by contributing seven points and six rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.
Temple, which sits at seventh place in the conference standings, will close out its regular season at home Sunday against second-place North Texas. To move up and grab the sixth seed in next week’s conference tournament, the Owls must beat UNT and hope ECU loses its last two regular-season games, Wednesday against Tulane at home and Sunday on the road at FAU.
Temple and ECU split their two matchups this season, but the Owls would take the tiebreaker. When two teams have split like the Owls and Pirates have, the American’s tiebreaker rules then go to each team’s record against the team sitting atop the league standings. Temple went 1-1 against conference leader Memphis, having knocked off the 18th-ranked Tigers back on Jan. 16, while ECU lost its only game to Memphis this season.
