City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
--

DeAndre’ Bembry got his shot at restitution late in overtime.

When freshman point guard Lamarr Kimble made one of his few mistakes of the game, Temple’s Josh Brown intercepted a pass, and it looked like the Owls were headed for a fastbreak and a potential lead. But, with 36 seconds left and St. Joseph’s up by a point, Bembry stripped Brown and had the ball hit off the Temple player before going out of bounds. The play by the Hawks’ star – who missed two free throws near the end of regulation – was the kind that can win a game in the waning minutes.

Thirty-six ticks and two missed shots later, St. Joe’s was celebrating a 66-65 overtime victory against Temple at halfcourt of the Liacouras Center.

“It was just full energy. Every kid that played gave maximum effort,” said St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli. “(It’s) what you would expect in Philadelphia and what you would expect in college basketball. I have a great deal of respect for both teams, because they’re both in the middle of exams. We’ve talked about our kids the last few days about being in the here and now and being competitive.”

The win for St. Joe’s pushed the team to 7-2 a month into the season and very much made the Hawks look like the second-best team in the Big 5. And there’s no doubt the game was the best in the Big 5 so far this season.

The contest featured nine ties, 10 lead changes and never had either side lead by double-digits. It was a true back-and-forth affair, and it came down to the final minutes and final shots.

With 1:38 remaining in the second half, Bembry hit a 15-foot jumper in the face of Brown to put the Hawks up by four. Temple answered immediately, however, as Obi Enechionyia converted a 3-point play at the other end to cut the Owls’ deficit to one. Enechionyia was Temple’s best player on Sunday, as he had his first career double-double with 25 points and 13 rebounds.

The Hawks threw a haymaker right back as Kimble, who played the best game of his young St. Joe’s career, drilled a triple with a minute remaining – putting St. Joe’s again up by four.

Brown pulled Temple within two with a jumper, but then Bembry got a steal on the Owls’ possession and was fouled on a fastbreak. With 26 seconds, he had the chance to put the Hawks up four with two free throws. He missed both. Quenton DeCosey got loose in the lane on the Owls’ next turn, and his slam with 11 seconds left forced overtime.

Temple scored the first three points of overtime before Bembry got back to the foul line, where he converted two attempts this time. With 2:13 left on the clock. Kimble rose up and hit the biggest shot of the game and his collegiate career, a 3-pointer, which put St. Joe’s up 66-64. The freshman from Neumann-Goretti finished with 11 points.

Enechionyia hit one free throw with 64 seconds left before the ball went back to St. Joe’s and Kimble turned it over. But there was Bembry to steal and deflect it off Brown – something referees confirmed on replay – to give his team the ball back with 36 seconds left and a new shot clock.

“Basically I was just trying to make up for it,” Bembry said of the missed free throws. “I want the ball at the end of the game, and if you want it, you have to make a play. I missed the two, but I was able to make the steal.”

Martelli instructed his team to use all of the shot clock and Temple did not foul on the Hawks’ last possession. Kimble missed a long trey with five seconds left, but Temple struggled to get a good look, and Enechionyia’s attempt from about 25 feet did not drop.

"We got probably a good of a situation as we could get for us,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. “It was five seconds left, and with that, you have three maybe four bounces to get something near the rim. ...I didn't want to call a timeout, we talked about it and we wanted to get them as scrambled as we could off a miss."

Added Martelli: “It’s a small thing, but the defense on them advancing the ball, not getting excited, not reaching in, that defense was really solid. I’m proud of that defense, and the players did that on their own.”

It was another small aspect late that had the Hawks making a joyful bus ride back to campus.