Owls stay hot, knock off Cincinnati, 61-58

Temple defeated Cincinnati 61-58 Tuesday night at the Liacouras Center to snap a nine-game losing streak against the Bearcats, improving to 11-6 overall and 4-2 in American Athletic Conference play and jumping Cincinnati in the conference standings.

Damian Dunn continued his penchant for big late-game performances. The redshirt freshman, who has already hit three game-winning shots this season, scored five of the Owls’ last six points, including a three-point play with 36 seconds left that put Temple ahead for good. He hit a long two from the left wing on the previous possession, and a timely block from point guard Jeremiah Williams on 7-foot-1 Cincinnati center Hayden Koval set up Dunn for the game-winning points.

The Owls came back from a 14-point deficit and won on a night when they shot just 34% overall (19 of 56) from the floor, 3 of 14 from three-point range, and 20 of 32 from the free-throw line. Temple outrebounded Cincinnati (14-6, 4-3) by 50-42 and got 10 boards off the bench from backup point guard Tai Strickland, who saw his first action from the Dec. 22 Delaware State game after recovering from a back injury.

Matchup watch

Going into the game, all eyes were on the matchup between second-year freshman point guard in Williams and Cincinnati senior guard David DeJulius, given the success DeJulius had against Temple last season.

Inside the 5-minute mark of the first half, the matchup began to pick up.

Williams chased DeJulius around the screens and DeJulius gave stepback buckets to any defender not named Williams or White. Williams even rhythm-dribbled into a three during the span, letting his rival know that he wouldn’t back down.

“He’s a tough cover,” Williams said after the game. “He has the freedom to do whatever he wants to do in that offense.”

Cincinnati ended the half on a 7-0 scoring run to close out the first half with a 37-25 lead.

Temple, on the other hand, ended on a 2:16 scoring drought.

“We were out of sorts,” third-year Temple head coach Aaron McKie said. “We had no rhythm and no continuity.”

First-half struggles

At the first media timeout, Cincinnati led 8-5. More importantly, the Owls had three turnovers to Cincinnati’s zero.

Freshman wing Jahlil White’s second block of the night sent Temple to the under-12-minute timeout trailing 14-12. The Owls were 2 for their last 7, while Cincinnati was 2 for its last 6. For the Owls, both Arashma Parks and Nick Jourdain missed open layups, with the former missing multiple attempts at the rim. Dunn also missed a three in the left corner while attempting to draw a foul.

After going 2 of its last 13 and allowing Temple to tie things up at 14, a putback layup by John Newman III put the Bearcats up 16-14 and forced Temple’s first timeout with 7:53 left in the half.

At that point in the game, Temple was in an almost three-minute stretch where it recorded four turnovers.

“We started slow offensively because of our turnovers,” McKie said.

Going into the half, Temple only had two assists to nine turnovers.

Shooting woes continue

Temple had no problem getting to the free throw line in the first half. The Owls got Cincinnati into the bonus and took 13 free throws to the Bearcats’ two. However, the Owls only converted seven of those. Temple entered the game shooting a frightening 69.8 percent from the charity stripe and did worse than that in Tuesday night’s opening period. As previously mentioned, the Owls finished 20-for-32 from the line, compared to Cincinnati’s 11-for-18, doing enough to capitalize on the Bearcats’ undisciplined defense.

While Temple had its success running Cincinnati off the three-point line and holding the Bearcats to 7-for-33 shooting from deep, the Owls only shot 3-for-14 themselves, worse than their season 29.5 percent.

Comeback push

Down 48-40 with 11 minutes left in regulation, Temple called timeout after being bailed out by a Madsen missed 3 in the left corner on a defensive breakdown. The Owls made five of their last seven at that point, while Cincinnati hadn't scored in 3:32. A run led by Williams, Dunn and the Strickland reached 7-0 to bring Temple to within five.

Even with Newman III ending the run on a putback layup, Cincinnati was still one for its last nine. However, Temple couldn’t capitalize on a possession in which it grabbed three offensive rebounds, two coming from Strickland, and come away with any points heading into the under 8:00 media timeout down 50-43.

Finally, after a 9-0 run, Temple took the lead 52-51 with 4:13 left in regulation, taking advantage of a Cincinnati scoring drought that lasted nearly four minutes. However, a Strickland shooting foul on DeJulius from three led to two made free throws, followed by a mid-range pullup and a short-lived lead for Temple.

Almost a minute later, DeJulius got Williams in the air for another three-point shooting foul, his time making all three and pushing the lead to 58-54 for the Bearcats.

At the 1:18 mark, a pullup from Dunn on the left wing could’ve tied the game, but the guard’s leading foot was over the three-point line. Williams' block on Koval, his second of the night, kept Temple's deficit at one with 52.4 left in regulation.

Dunn made up for his previous mistake with an and-one with 36.9 seconds remaining, part of a 7-0 run that would end the game and send Temple home with the win.

“It’s all due to the trust and respect from my teammates,” Dunn said. “Our togetherness and our grit is what has been getting us over the hump.”

What could have gone wrong

White picked up a technical at the 15:41 mark of the second half after finishing a tough layup and contributing to a 6-0 Temple run. After cutting the deficit to eight at 41-33, giving Cincinnati two free throws and the ball proved to be a costly mistake.

Two possessions later, Temple turned it over and gave up another two points in transition.

However, the Owls bounced back.

“Going through those losses and rough patches last year really taught us a lot about game management,” Williams said.

Positive performances

Cincinnati sophomore guard Mason Madsen was tied for a team-high eight points at the half on three for five shooting including two of four from three, but didn’t score in the second half.

Defensively, White picked up two blocks and a steal for Temple as he and Williams did their best to annoy DeJulius.

Freshman wing Zach Hicks did more than hold his own on the boards, battling with Cincinnati’s heavies and boxing out to haul in seven rebounds. More impressively, the 6-2 Strickland grabbed 10 rebounds.

Dunn led all scorers with 18 points while Williams tied DeJulius for second-most with 15, although more efficient with a 5-for-9 clip against DeJulius’ 4-for-15.

When asked about his approach down the stretch, Williams said the only thing on his mind was, “Don’t let [DeJulius] score.”

What’s next

For the Bearcats, it’s coming up on the “win-out” part of the season if they want to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid, and a loss in Philadelphia Tuesday night didn’t do the bubble team any favors. Head coach Wes Miller’s quest for 200 career wins continues Sunday at ECU (11-7, 2-4).

For Temple, the Owls head to SMU for a Saturday matchup with Kendric Davis and the Mustangs, another team in the American fighting on the bubble.