In the biggest game of his young career so far, the lights were not too bright for Temple guard Zion Stanford.

The 6-foot-5, 195-pound true freshman was a bright spot for the Owls in a 74-65 loss to Saint Joseph’s Saturday night in the inaugural Big 5 Classic championship game, collecting 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go with nine rebounds, two assists and one block in 29 minutes off the bench.

Even more fitting for Stanford, who played his high school basketball at West Catholic Prep of the Philadelphia Catholic League, was that his best performance so far came inside the Wells Fargo Center, the home arena of his hometown Philadelphia 76ers.

The Hawks have a handful of Philadelphia-area players on their roster, including Xzayvier Brown, Lynn Greer III, Anthony Finkley and Rasheer Fleming, and Stanford admitted how surreal it was to play against his friends in an NBA arena.

“It definitely makes me proud to see all my friends because they were not only my teammates growing up, but they're my friends that I talk to every day,” Stanford said after the game. “I'm proud of them just like they're proud of me, and it's always fun for our parents to see us play on bigger stages as we get older.”

After missing 22 shots from the field and four free throws, the Owls found themselves trailing by 11 points at halftime. And after the Hawks got their lead up to 14 points in the second half, Stanford contributed four points during an 11-0 run that got Temple to within four.

Stanford is averaging 11.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting better than 52 % from the floor through Temple’s first seven games. He attributes his early season success to trust and confidence.

“I feel like just trusting in myself and trusting in my work,” Stanford, the two-time all-state player, said, “having my coaches give me confidence to do the things I do. My teammates look for me and they feel confident in my play. Just going in, working every day and just believing that you can play on a big stage everyday.”

Temple outlasted La Salle last Wednesday, 106-99 in triple overtime, to advance to Saturday's Big 5 classic championship game, and Stanford played a large part in that win with 15 points and seven rebounds, both of which were career highs at the time prior to Saturday's game. On Monday, the American Athletic Conference named Stanford its Freshman of the Week, and the Big 5 named him to its honor roll.

With redshirt-junior guard Jahlil White still out with a hand injury, teammate Jordan Riley has moved into the starting lineup, and Stanford has established himself as the clear first option off the bench. He’ll get another opportunity to stuff the stat sheet when Temple takes on Bloomsburg Wednesday at 7 p.m. at The Liacouras Center.