City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Temple's six-game winning streak in the American Athletic Conference came to an end Tuesday night as the Owls lost on the road to Tulsa, 74-55.

At first...
Temple actually got out to a very good start, leading 25-13 eight minutes into the game. That advantage would not stick however, as Tulsa went on an 18-4 run to close out the half. Temple made just one field goal -- a Shawn Alston jumper with 1:30 left -- in the final eight minutes of the first half.

Turning point...
The Owls were hanging around in the second half, but the Golden Hurricane went on a 13-2 run starting around the 12-minute mark of the second half. This lead to a 14-point advantage with 7:14 left that the Owls could not overcome.

Shining stars...
Tulsa guard Pat Birt had a game-best 23 points and hit seven of his 15 field goal attempts. For Temple, Obi Enechionyia led the team with 17 points and went 4-for-6 on 3-pointers.

Noteworthy numbers...
Tulsa was the last team on Temple's regular season schedule that had an RPI in the top 150 as of Tuesday. ...The Owls' 10 regular season losses are one more than they had going into the postseason last year when they narrowly missed an NCAA Tournament bid. ...Temple shot just 37 percent from the field in Tuesday's loss.

Up next...
Temple (17-10, 11-4) vs. UCF, 2/27, Noon
Tulsa (19-9, 11-5) at Memphis, 2/28, 4 p.m.