With less than a minute left, Temple was clinging to a three point lead that was once double-digits. The Owls needed a bucket to push the lead back to two possessions and turned to the player they brought in to get buckets.

Jamal Mashburn Jr. was having his way with Tulane all game, pouring in 30 points up to that point on highly-efficient shooting. The New Mexico transfer caught the ball at the top of the key and took one dribble to just inside the three point line. He then took “the worst shot in basketball” and connected on a long two to push the Owls lead to five in what eventually became an 80-77 win Sunday at the Liacouras Center.

“Great shot, shoot it again,” said head coach Adam Fisher about the shot. “That's where you allow your players to play with their strengths, especially in critical moments. [The midrange] is a huge strength of his, so we let our guys do that. He comes in every day after practice and that shot right there, he works on every single day.”

Tulane had an opportunity to tie the game in the final seconds, but a three-pointer from guard Rowan Brumbaugh, who led the Green Wave with 20 points, missed and fittingly fell into the arms of Mashburn to seal the deal. Mashburn finished the game with 32 points, one off his career high, on 12 of 16 shooting as he led Temple (12-6, 4-1 AAC) to its second straight win and a spot tied atop the American Athletic Conference standings.

The Owls also remained undefeated at home at 8-0 at the Liacouras Center.

“I was just taking what the defense gave me,” Mashburn said. “Tulane is a really good defensive team. They do a lot of switching, that matchup zone messes up a lot of teams. So I was trying to take what the defense was giving me and then just letting it fly.”

Tulane (10-9, 4-2 AAC) came into the game led by multiple high-level transfers, including forward Kaleb Banks from Indiana, forward Greg Glenn III from Michigan and Brumbaugh from Georgetown. Instead, it was freshman guard Kam Williams who put his fingerprints all over the game early.

The Louisiana native connected on his first three shots and propelled Tulane to an 8-2 lead just two minutes into the game. The Green Wave offense was red hot through the first part of the first half, but the Owls remained in the game behind their ability to force turnovers.

Temple forced 10 first-half turnovers to combat Tulane’s shooting, but the Owls were only able to convert those into seven first-half points. After the first media timeout with Temple trailing 8-4, Fisher decided to switch to a full-court press defense.

The decision paid dividends, as Temple forced multiple turnovers from the press, including two 10-second violations. The defense allowed the Owls to climb back in the game and take their first lead at 11-10.

From there, both teams began to trade baskets, with neither extending its lead to more than four points.

Banks entered as Tulane’s leading scorer, averaging better than 18 points per game, but was held in check during the first half. He only took two shots in the first half, making one of them as Temple’s defense managed to eliminate his effectiveness. Banks ended the game with just seven points on 3-8 shooting.

“With [Kaleb] Banks, we wanted to take away [the three],” Fisher said. “I think when he makes threes early, he really gets going, and then when he drives, being able to chest up, he’s a heck of a player, really good player. I thought we really guarded him well in a one-on-one.”

Late in the first half, Temple finally found its stroke from three-point land after making one through the first 17 minutes of the game. Mashburn, guard Quante Berry and forward Steve Settle III hit shots from deep on three straight possessions, but once again, Tulane went shot for shot and the Owls could not build a lead from the momentum.

At the end of the first half, the Owls had three seconds to get a bucket before the buzzer. The ball found its way into the hands of forward Babatunde Durodola at the top of the key and Durodola, who had not attempted a three pointer all season, let the ball go and hit the shot. However, Durodola released the ball a half second late and his first career three did not count as Temple went to the locker room leading 34-33. The Green Wave ended the first half shooting 5 of 7 from three and connected on 12 of 20 threes for the game.

Five minutes into the second half, Temple seemed to find the momentum it was looking for. Mashburn made his third three pointer and guard Shane Dezonie followed it with a block on the defensive end of the floor. Then he corralled the ball and went coast to coast for a one-handed dunk that looked identical to his dunk against Memphis three days earlier.

Despite the momentum swing, the Owls could not pull away. The Green Wave began to chip away at the nine-point deficit and brought Temple’s lead down to 55-54 with 11 minutes to play.

The Owls responded to the Green Wave with another run, this time an 11-3 stretch during the ensuing four minutes to push the lead to 66-57 with seven minutes left. The run was capped off by a corner three from Dezonie, who finished with 13 points but also had two turnovers in the final minutes that were nearly costly.

Temple continued to hold Tulane at arms reach for the next five minutes, keeping the lead above six until two minutes remained. The Owls, who had looked comfortable playing with a lead against Memphis, suddenly lost composure and control of the game.

Williams hit a three for Tulane to bring the deficit down to 78-73 and Brumbaugh made a layup to make it a one-possession game with a little more than a minute remaining. After a turnover by Dezonie and a missed three by Brumbaugh, Mashburn hit his biggest shot of the night to push the lead back to 80-75. Tulane got one more bucket but could not connect on the tying three pointer in the waning seconds as Temple held on for the win.

Coming off an emotional win against Memphis just three days earlier, Fisher kept his team poised and made sure they did not fall into a trap game against the Green Wave. The Owls outrebounded their opponent for the second straight game, winning the battle on the boards 33-20 and scoring 36 points in the paint.

“We share this with our team, we prepare the exact same way,” Fisher said. “We really instilled in our guys through three days that that's the next game on our schedule. Today was the most important game of the season, the most important game because it's the next one. Now we'll prepare North Texas to become the most important game of the season, and that's how we treat it.

“The season doesn't end today because we win or lose. We have the same approach.”