By CHASE SENIOR
Philahoops Staff
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No second half lead has been safe for the Temple Owls in 2013-14. Coming into Wednesday evenings matchup with Rutgers, the Owls had held a lead following halftime in 18 of 21 games this season and after blowing a 20-point second half advantage, Temple outlasted the Scarlet Knights for its first American Athletic Conference victory.
“We came out early, we got a big lead just like Cincinnati did on us and they had to fight their way back in the second half,” senior guard Dalton Pepper said with a smile following the Owls first win since December 21st. “They did a good job of coming back and staying in the game and we stayed poised. Will made some big plays. Josh hit some big free throws down the stretch and just came out with a win, which we really needed bad,” he added.
Temple shot 65.6 percent from the floor in the first half and took a 50-37 cushion into halftime. That lead would grow to as much as 20 points, as the Owls went on a 25-6 run over the span of the first and second half to take a 57-37 advantage with under 18 minutes remaining.
From there, though, Rutgers coach and former 76ers headman, Eddie Jordan, switched up his teams defensive scheme and Temple would hit a wall.
The Owls shot just 37 percent in the second half, while Rutgers connected on 53.3 percent of its shot attempts as the Scarlet Knights embarked on a notorious 38-17 run to go up 75-74 with 2:49 remaining, thanks to back-to-back triples from J.J. Moore.
“The reality is we made our run, and then they were making their run,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “The momentum of the game absolutely changed. It’s easier to play from behind like that for them. They made some easy shots. We didn’t do a good enough job defensively. I thought some of our offensive inefficiency led to some easy baskets for them as well, but give [Rutgers] some credit.”
Junior point guard, Will Cummings would answer the call and converted on layups in consecutive possessions to regain the lead. Cummings played the entire game and finished with a game high 21 points, while dishing out eight assists.
“[Will’s] playmaking was great and his last two baskets is what kind of saved us a little bit,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “We obviously went down after having a decent lead obviously in the second half and he sort of rescued us with those two drives to the hoop.
“We need him to be that kind of playmaker,” Dunphy added. “There’s opportunities to score taking it all the way to the rim, but there’s also opportunities to drive and kick for open jumpers for his teammates.“
In many instances this season, once Temple lost momentum, it was a wrap, but on Wednesday, the Owls regained the momentum switch and squeezed out a victory.
“It’s tough a little bit, especially when you’re on the road but when you’re home, you know you’re at home, you kind of got the fans there with you, so that helps out a lot,” Cummings said. “To kind of swing momentum back, you gotta make a couple big plays to take it back from the team. I think we kind of grew up a little bit and did a good job of not falling to the momentum swing and fighting back,” Cummings added.
Freshman guard, Josh Brown played a vital role down the stretch, hitting all four of his free throws in crucial stages.
The win could not come at a better time for Temple. No. 9 ranked Villanova comes to the Liacouras Center on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip.
“It feels really good to get a win,” Pepper said. “First in over a month, so It feels good, especially at home. Its gonna be a big game, a sold out crowd on Saturday. Big 5 game. They’re a top ten team, so they’re gonna come in here ready to go and they’re talented, so we got to come in and match their intensity and throw the first punch,” he added.
Chase Senior covers Temple for Philahoops. You can reach him through email [email protected], via Twitter @Chase_Senior, or leave a comment below.
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