Temple led for just 13 seconds Saturday at UTSA, and it came at the wrong end of the day.

After falling behind by as many as 16 points, the Owls got within a point four times in the second half and even tied the game with a little less than four minutes to go, but weak first-half shooting, poor defense and 16 turnovers were too much to overcome in an 88-79 loss to the Roadrunners at UTSA’s Convocation Center that left Temple winless in its two-game Texas road trip.

Temple, which dropped to 12-8 overall, 4-3 in the American Athletic Conference and 2-5 on the road, initially got within one at the 16:50 mark of the second half on a pair of free throws from Steve Settle, who finished the game with 18 points. From there, UTSA (9-10, 3-4) unwrapped a 10-0 run to jump back ahead by 11 at 58-47 with 15:11 left. Damari Monsanto scored eight of his 17 points during that run, as the Roadrunners got their 10 straight points in a span of less than two minutes.

When the Owls got within a point again, this time with 5:05 left to play, it came courtesy of a bucket from Zion Stanford, who finished with 17 points in 27 minutes off the bench. With a chance to put his team ahead with 3:55 remaining, Settle went 1 of 2 from the line to tie the game, and the Owls later got within one two more times inside the game’s last three minutes.

Once Quante Berry got Temple within one at 78-77 on a layup with 1:40 to go, the Owls folded from there as UTSA closed out the game on a 10-2 run that saw Temple miss both of its shots from the floor and turn the ball over twice. At the other end, Roadrunners guard Primo Spears scored six of his 20 points during that span to help close out the game.

Temple quickly fell behind inside the game’s first minutes. Raekwon Horton (20 points) hit a three-pointer at the 14:33 mark of the first half to give UTSA a comfortable 23-7 lead, its largest advantage of the day. The Owls eventually cut the deficit to five and trailed by eight, 43-35, at halftime, but shot 12 of 32 from the floor and just 2-for-12 from three-point range in the first half. The Roadrunners, by contrast, shot 53% (16-for-31) in the first half, including 8-of-15 from three, as Horton scored 15 of his 20 points before halftime.

Temple, which was led by Jamal Mashburn Jr.’s 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting, played its third consecutive game without top reserve forward Elijah Gray. The 6-foot-8, 235-pound Fordham transfer had been averaging 8.0 points and 3.9 rebounds and shooting 52.6% from the floor before leaving the Owls’ win over Memphis last Thursday with what looked like a hamstring injury.

The Owls will now play their next two games at home, starting with Wednesday night’s contest against Charlotte at the Liacouras Center. ESPN+ will stream the game starting at 7 p.m.

Front page photo courtesy of Temple Athletics.