Following a two-game road trip of back-to-back losses, Temple was looking to find some solace at the The Liacouras Center Wednesday night. The Owls had been perfect in their eight games at home, and their last-place conference opponent seemed perfect for a bounce-back game.
Charlotte took the floor with just a single American Athletic Conference win, having just snapped a seven-game losing streak, but Temple nearly squandered the game and needed double overtime to squeeze out a 90-89 win.
Guard Quante Berry executed a floater with five seconds left to give Temple a two-point lead in the first extra period, but Charlotte guard Kylan Blackmon drove the length of the court just seconds later to tie the game and extend it.
With the game tied, Jamal Mashburn Jr. went 1-of-2 at the line with two seconds to go in the second extra period and Giancarlo Rosado’s last-second heave bounced off the rim, sparing Temple what would have been a bad loss in a game that saw the Owls blow a 13-point first-half lead.
“Wild college basketball game, right?” said Temple head coach Adam Fisher. “I'm really proud of our guys for their resiliency. I thought we could have folded multiple times, whether it be injuries, foul trouble, they score at the end. There's so many times this group could have folded, but instead they're resilient.”
Temple’s offense began to gain steam in the first half as the Owls (13-8, 5-3) stretched their lead out to 13 points with a little less than six minutes to go behind a three-pointer from Shane Dezonie. Temple shot 50% (12-of-24) in the first half and got 10 points from Mashburn while forward Babatunde Durodola was the main catalyst down low for the Owls. The 6-foot-8, 220-pound freshmen hauled in six boards, with three coming on the offensive end, to go with two assists and a steal.
“Baba does so many things that don't show up on a box score,” Fisher said. “We talk about role and value a lot. Everybody on our team has a different role. Everybody's value is the same. If you're putting together a puzzle piece, whether your puzzle piece is a little bit bigger, a little bit smaller, if you're missing a piece, it doesn't look right.”
Meanwhile, 49ers guard Nik Graves had 12 first-half points and was key in chipping into the deficit. Charlotte (8-13, 1-7) knocked down six shots beyond the arc, including a three-point barrage of four straight makes that sliced Temple’s lead down to one, 37-36, at halftime.
The Owls’ second half was spoiled by an offense that was a shell of itself from the first half. Temple shot just 38% from the field in the second half, and Charlotte, a team with the league’s worst shooting percentage and third-worst scoring offense, took full advantage and started to get hot.
The three-headed monster of Graves, Blackmon and Rosado kept the 49ers on pace with the Owls. The trio combined for 59 of Charlotte’s points while also having two other players - Robert Braswell and Jaehshon Thomas - hit double digits. Temple’s defense took a hit after Durodola went out at the 16:39 mark of the second half with an injury, so Fisher leaned on center Mohamed Keita to take his place. Fisher later said he had to talk to team doctors to get more information on Durodola's status.
To make matters worse, Temple went almost eight minutes without a field goal down the stretch in the second half. When Mashburn hit a three with 11:06 left to play, the shot gave the Owls a 58-53 lead. When he hit a jumper at the 3:19 mark to end the field-goal drought, Temple found itself trailing by a point at 64-63. The Owls ended regulation with sixth straight free throws, with Mashburn knocking down the game-tying foul shots with 12 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
“We wanted to attack the rim. That's something that we've worked on,” Fisher said. “There's weaknesses we've had. We've tried to improve in our strength. We've tried to continue to strengthen. We got to just keep being aggressive and attacking, no matter if shots are falling or not.”
Temple got help from an unlikely hero in the extra periods in Berry, who has spent most of this week sick. The illness carried over to the court, as he shot just 1-of-4 for two points in regulation. He came alive in the second overtime, which was important considering guards Shane Dezonie and Matteo Picarelli had fouled out.
Three of Berry’s four field goals came in overtime, including the shot to take the lead at the end of the first one. He finished the game with nine points but also had five of Temple’s 17 turnovers. Mashburn came through in the second overtime period, drilling a three pointer to give Temple an 83-82 lead at the 3:05 mark of the second overtime in a game that saw 14 lead changes.
“I try my best to stay composed at all times. Not just with basketball, with life,” Mashburn, who scored a career-high 34 points, said. “Life is going to throw things at you. We didn't expect this to be a double-overtime game, but it was, so we had to just roll with the punches and respond.”
Temple will look to stay undefeated at home when it hosts East Carolina Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Front page photo by Grace Crosby.