City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Temple kept rolling in American Athletic Conference play, getting late heroics from a trio of players to storm back for a 63-58 win over UConn on Thursday night at the Liacouras Center.

At First…
Temple weathered an early 12-2 UConn run--which gave the Huskies a 16-10 lead--to rally for a two-point advantage at halftime. Senior wing Quenton DeCosey finished off a 14-point first half with a mid-range pull-up at the buzzer that made it 31-29, but the Owls couldn’t maintain momentum into the second half. Temple missed seven of its first eight shots out of the break as UConn opened the second half on a 14-3 run to go up by as many as nine on a layup by Phillip Nolan with 13:56 remaining.

Turning Point…
After the UConn advantage was closed to as few as five with more than 12 minutes to play, the Huskies responded with another 9-2 run to make it 52-40 with 7:48 remaining. But Temple’s offense finally found life, in the form of Daniel Dingle and Devin Coleman. The two combined to hit four triples in 100 seconds, turning a 12-point gap into just two with 3:45 left.

Two minutes later, DeCosey flicked the ball up and through while getting fouled; his subsequent foul shot put Temple up 59-58, its first lead since the final bucket of the first half. After staunch defensive stand by the Owls, two foul shots by DeCosey with 19.9 seconds remaining were followed by a Rodney Purvis double-dribble, and two more DeCosey foul shots sealed it.

Standout Stars…
DeCosey continued his terrific season with 23 points, his 11th straight game with double digits and ninth of the season with 20 points or more. Dingle finished with 15 points, setting a new career high, going 4-of-5 from 3-point range (also a new career best) to help him along the way.

UConn redshirt junior Rodney Purvis, the Huskies’ sixth man, provided his team with instant offense when he was inserted a few minutes into the game, knocking down two deep triples off the bat. The NC State transfer finished with 13 points, while another transfer, former Cornell forward Shonn Miller, led the Huskies with 15.

Noteworthy Numbers…
3: Dingle hit double figures for only the third time this season, surpassing his previous season (and career) high of 14 points with his third triple of that spurt. The other two times he’s done so have been in two of Temple’s other big wins, at Cincinnati on Dec. 29 and against SMU on Jan. 24, both Temple wins.

1: Temple's current spot in the American Athletic Conference standings; the Owls are tied with SMU atop the league, but the Mustangs are ineligible for postseason play.

Up Next…
Temple (15-8, 9-3 American) vs. South Florida (Feb. 14, 3 PM)
UConn (17-7, 7-4 American) vs. Tulsa (Feb. 13, 8 PM)