Damian Dunn's 22 points lead Temple past ECU, 73-58
When Temple scratched out a two-point win at ECU three weeks ago, Damian Dunn was recovering from a concussion and couldn’t play.
In a rematch between the two teams Wednesday night, Dunn made up for lost time, putting up a team-high 22 points in the Owls’ 73-58 win over the Pirates, guiding the Owls to their second straight season sweep of ECU.
More importantly, Temple bounced back from this past weekend’s loss to Memphis at the buzzer. The Owls improved to 11-9 overall and are now tied for second place in the American Athletic Conference standings with a 5-2 record in league play.
After Dunn’s Wednesday night performance, the Kinston, North Carolina native averages 27 points per game against his hometown team.
Dunn admitted there’s a little extra juice there when he plays against ECU, and he has his reasons.
“It’s home,” Dunn said. “I grew up 30 minutes from campus, so just something that I took personally since they didn’t offer me till two weeks before I committed here (to Temple). So just every time I see them, I’m playing with that competitive edge, and just a little chip on my shoulder.”
A huge factor in Dunn’s success over the Pirates was his ability to get to the free throw line, as he went 16-for-18 from the foul line in the win.
Guard Khalif Battle, like Dunn, also came off the bench once again and was also a big factor in the win. After shooting just 7 of 31 in Temple’s last two games, Battle went 7 of 14 from the field for 20 points.
After a slow start offensively for the Owls that left them trailing by five at halftime, they exploded in the second half for 45 points, with Dunn and Battle combining for 27 of them.
“The first half was probably some of the worst 10 minutes we played,” Dunn said. “We knew it shouldn’t have been a ballgame with this team. We knew we should’ve separated in the first 10 minutes of the game like we did in the second half.”
Despite grabbing that five-point halftime lead, outrebounding Temple by 45-34, and getting 14 and 11 points, respectively, from Quentin Diboundje and RJ Felton, the Pirates fell to 10-10 overall and 1-6 in the American.
Momentum swings
ECU jumped out to an early double-digit lead thanks to a 13-3 run over a four-minute span in the first half. Included in that run was Temple forward Nick Jourdain’s Flagrant 1 foul after he shoved ECU sophomore forward Brandon Johnson to the ground.
The Owls then followed up that with a 12-4 run of their own, where seven of the 12 points came from Dunn. That helped bring the Owls back within a point with 3 minutes, 22 seconds left in the first half.
Both teams continued to trade baskets, but a monster dunk from Felton helped the Pirates take their 33-28 lead into the locker room.
Halfway through the second half, Temple took control of the game with a 14-0 run, highlighted by an and-1 dunk from Dunn after he took a hard Flagrant 1 foul from ECU forward Ezra Ausar. Dunn completed the four-point play that gave the Owls the momentum.
The Owls then followed that up with 8-2 run capped off by a Jahlil White dunk to help put the Owls comfortably ahead by 14 at 64-50 with 5:22 to go.
The numbers
Temple once again had a tough night shooting from the field and especially from beyond the three point arc, as the Owls shot 23% from three point range (3-13) in the first half and 22% (5-23) for the game. Meanwhile, the Pirates shot 31% from three point range (5-16) in the first half and 26% (8-31) for the game.
Other than the shooting woes for Temple, the Owls also struggled at the glass, as they did not get their first defensive rebound until the 12:51 mark of the first half.
ECU outrebounded Temple 45-34, including 18 Pirates offensive rebounds that led to 17 second chance points. Meanwhile, the Owls had just eight offensive boards and only two-second chance points.
Temple shot 26 of 31 from the stripe, while ECU got there just 14 times and went 8 of 14.
“That’s where Damian Dunn is at his best,” Temple head coach Aaron McKie said about getting to the free throw line. “Most of it is him, but we have some other guys that have the ability to do it.”
Strong defense
A huge factor in Temple’s win over ECU was its strong defensive play.
Temple forced 17 ECU turnovers, including eight steals, and the Owls scored 21 points off of those turnovers. Meanwhile Temple turned the ball over just eight times, and ECU scored 12 points off those miscues.
“It’s always big, it’s a big part of winning,” McKie said. “So as we continue to move forward that’s going to be a big part of our winning recipe, is taking care of the ball.”
Up next
Temple will now have its toughest test of the season when it plays at No. 1 Houston (18-1, 6-0 American Athletic Conference) Sunday. The Owls will be looking to take down the Cougars for the first time since Jan. 9, 2019. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.