City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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When looking at the box score of Temple Owls’ performance over the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday, nothing positive jumps right off the page.

They shot 37 percent from the floor, their lowest in a game since being dismantled by the Houston Cougars by 27 points. They committed 11 turnovers after coming into the game averaging only 9.3 per game, which was second best nationally.

Yet, at the end of the day, all that matters to the Owls is the 'W' in the column.

Temple pulled out a thrilling 67-65 victory over Cincinnati in double overtime after Jaylen Bond grabbed one of his nine offensive rebounds and finished inside for the difference-maker. Bond scored after forward Obi Enechionyia heaved a 3-pointer from the wing with the shot clock winding down and only 21 seconds remaining in the game.

That came after two overtime periods in which the Owls shot just 4-of-17 overall, including 1-of-6 on foul shots. And still won.

Bond, who finished with nine points and team-leading 12 rebounds, was just happy to be in the right place at the right time.

“Just stay with the play and don’t quit,” Bond said. “I just knew that we needed that possession to win the game so I just tried to do everything I could to help my teammates win.”

Temple head coach Fran Dunphy knows his senior team captain has a knack for controlling the glass and does a great job of getting himself into position to corral missed shots.

“He was great. He had a couple great stick backs for us,” Dunphy said. “That’s what he does. He’s a defender-rebounder. That’s how he’s going to make his money in his professional career. He’s got a great knack for where the ball is coming off.”

Bond made the deciding play of the game but it would not have been possible if Devin Coleman had not hit an NBA-range 3-pointer to tie the game at 65. Coleman hit five 3-pointers in the game, none bigger than his last.

Coleman finished with 15 points, and his long shot came as no surprise to several teammates including leading scorer Quenton DeCosey, who finished with a game-high 22 points.

“When he let it go, I looked at his feet and saw he was about five feet behind the three-point line,” DeCosey said. “When he made it, I was extremely happy but I wasn’t too surprised because he makes deep shots like that in practice all the time.”

Temple (9-7, 4-2) limited Cincinnati (13-6, 3-3) to 1-of-18 from the beyond the arc, and forced them into 16 turnovers. Still, the Bearcats were in the game until the very end, led by double-digit scoring outputs by forwards Octavius Ellis (14), Gary Clark (12) and guard Troy Caupain (14), who forced overtime on a putback with 11 seconds left in the second half.

Ellis and Clark also combined for 23 rebounds against the Owls’ front line of Bond, Enechionyia, Daniel Dingle and Ernest Aflakpui which only totaled 20. Bond and Enechionyia recorded their fourth fouls during the first overtime, but Ellis fouled out in the same overtime period.

Bond knew the 6-foot-10 Ellis and 6-8 Clark would be a hassle but was not intimidated by the Bearcats’ formidable front court.

“I’m used to playing against bigger guys,” Bond said. “It’s been that way all my life so it wasn’t any different today. I just try to be as aggressive as I can.”

Dunphy was pleased with the way his team responded after coming off a two-point loss at the hands of the Memphis Tigers on Wednesday.

“It was a tough loss but we played well enough to win the game,” Dunphy said. “I think the more difficult loss for us was Houston when we were never in the game. We work hard at this. Let’s get the next play done. We talk about how we can be champions of our league. We can win our conference tournament. Every game is a new challenge. We also talked about how fragile winning and losing is. It’s so fragile especially at this level.”

Temple had its largest lead at eight with 6:48 left in the second half but the Owls could never seem to put away the Bearcats. After having defeated Cincinnati 77-70 earlier in the year, the Owls knew they were in for a difficult matchup.  

DeCosey said Dunphy and his staff prepared them for a revenge game.

"The whole week as we were preparing the coaches told us they were going to have chip on their shoulder,” DeCosey said. “We knew they were going to come in tough, and we just needed to match their toughness.”

The Owls gave up 32 points in the paint and shot an unimpressive 8-18 from the free-throw line, and still have a lot to work on as they prepare for their Big 5 clash with La Salle this Wednesday at the Palestra.

Dunphy believes his team is progressing and likes where they’re at this point in the season.

“I don’t think we’re that up and down, to be honest,” Dunphy said. “ I go back to the fragileness of winning and losing.We’re getting better every game. It felt like we had a chance to win this game if we did as many good things as we possibly could… I think we’re getting there.”