TRENTON, N.J.– After Temple needed a second-half comeback to win its season opener, Jamal Mashburn Jr. said the Owls had a bit of a rough practice the next day.

“It was just the little details, effort,” Mashburn said of the substandard Tuesday practice. “I think some guys come in fatigued and a little nicked up, and you still got to have an intentional practice in what we got to do. We had a players’ meeting and everything, and we're getting stuff figured out. Obviously, we’ve got 10 new guys, so everything is still kind of getting the chemistry flowing, but it's all headed in the right direction. So we're right where we're supposed to be right now.”

It sure looked that way Friday night.

In an impressive performance from start to finish, Temple placed five scorers in double figures, led by Mashburn’s 25 points, en route to a 103-74 rout of Monmouth in the first game of the Jersey Jam at Cure Insurance Arena. Steve Settle III posted a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman forward Babatunde Durodola started again, this time posting 13 points and six rebounds on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the floor. Fellow freshman forward Dillon Battie looked sharp as well in adding 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

Mashburn shot 10 of 16 overall and 3 of 5 from three-point range. His second bucket of the night gave the Owls a one-point lead less than two minutes into the game, and they never trailed again.

Beyond the final score, all of the stats were unofficial. The stat crew at Cure Insurance Arena was still trying to retrace its steps after its live stats system crashed during the game.

Anyway, the 103-point outburst marked the first Temple surpassed the century mark since a 108-61 win over St. Joe’s back on Dec. 10, 2019. The Owls scored 106 last November, but it came in a triple-overtime win over La Salle. Walk-on forward Christian Tomasco hit a free throw to get the Owls to 100 Friday night with less than a minute to go.

After Monmouth (0-2) held its brief 5-4 lead less than 90 seconds into the game, Temple used a 20-3 run to take control of the game. Mashburn (7) and Battie (6) combined for 13 of the Owls’ points during that run, one that set Temple on its way to a 21-point advantage at halftime. The Owls’ lead grew as large as 30 points at the 9:28 mark of the second half on a Durodola layup.

Where Monmouth finishes in the CAA this season is anyone’s guess, but Friday night’s blowout win was a good sign for a Temple team that will still be without point guard Lynn Greer III for the next seven games due to his NCAA rules violations, and Fordham transfer forward Elijah Gray missed his second game Friday night as he works his way through concussion protocol. Second-year head coach Adam Fisher said he hopes to have Gray for Tuesday night’s home Big 5 game against Drexel.

Both players could be likely starters later in the season, especially Greer, so watching Fisher be able to go 10 players deep into his bench Friday night when the game was still somewhat up for grabs is certainly a step in the right direction. Jameel Brown added 11 points with the help of three three-pointers in 18 minutes off the bench, and Fisher went to 7-foot-1 Tulsa transfer Mohammed Keita off the bench a little more than five minutes into the game to counter the size of Monmouth’s 6-9 forward Chris Morgan and 7-foot center Dok Muordar, who played previously in the American at South Florida and then Cleveland State before landing at Monmouth.

“I think it's great,” said Settle, who shot just 3 of 11 from the floor but 8 of 10 from the foul line to get to his 17 points. “We have a really deep team filled with a lot of talent. Credit to coach for bringing in great players, and we're just a group of guys that enjoys playing with each other, and we want to see the next guy win. So, those guys showed us what they can do, but they've been showing us since the summertime.”

Fisher started Zion Stanford Friday night instead of Matteo Picarelli, who got the start in Monday’s opener against Sacred Heart. Stanford had four points, a rebound and an assist in 21 minutes, while Picarelli had four points in 19 minutes off the bench. Freshman guard Aiden Tobiason got into the mix late in the game and scored five points, including a good-looking three.

On another night later in the season, Fisher knows he could count on those players for bigger point totals if necessary.

“I think it's great when you look down the bench and you have guys, not only the depth, but guys that you trust,” Fisher said. “Elijah's done it. Lynn Greer has done it. So you have two guys like that. So the more minutes we can get guys … that's why (point guard) Quante Barry is playing a lot of minutes right now, trying to work through some things. Our freshmen are getting more minutes so that when we keep going through this season - we talk about it all the time - we need 16 (players). We need all 16. That's for practice. I thought our scout team did a great job, so I get excited when they get to go in the game at the end because they prepare you. And if they don't prepare you the right way, then your team can't get better.

“So 16 guys, it's a great problem to have, but it's also (that) this team is unique. You’ve heard these guys now two nights in a row come up here and say, ‘Hey, we're just happy for each other.’ They have no idea what they're doing (statistically), and we didn't have the stats to even tell them tonight. So if we could continue that attitude, and it's hard, right? There's certain guys that you know are upset, and I just said it to the team. I think Aiden Tobias was upset he didn't play in the first game. He came out today and played like it was not on his mind at all, and that's what we need.”

Watch Friday night's postgame press conferences here.