City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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The Temple Owls suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the New Hampshire Wildcats 57-52 at the Liacouras Center on Monday night.

At First…
In a first half that was taken over by poor shooting by both squads, with New Hampshire shooting 34.4 percent and Temple coming in at 26.5 percent, the Owls went into halftime trailing 30-24 after a buzzer beating 3-pointer from Jaleen Smith. Senior forward Obi Enechionyia was the lone bright spot in the first half for Temple, coming in with 11 points on 4-8 shooting and chipping in three rebounds as well. For New Hampshire, junior forward Tanner Leissner made his presence felt underneath coming in with eight points and six rebounds before the intermission.

Turning Point…
Obi Enechionyia hit a turnaround jumper with four minutes remaining in the second half to give Temple its first lead since 50 seconds into the game when they led 5-3. Enechionyia’s basket capped off a 7-0 run for Temple that saw them come from down 48-42 to winning 49-48. The teams then traded three-pointers and UNH senior guard Jaleen Smith hit a layup to put UNH up 53-52, which he followed with two free throws with 13 seconds left to extend the lead, which would last until the end of the game.

Standout Stars…
Enechionyia turned in an impressive performance for Temple, finishing with 20 points and 7 rebounds on 8-of-17 shooting. Also coming up big for the Owls was Daniel Dingle, who finished with 13 points.

For New Hampshire, David Watkins drilled five 3-pointers on his way to 15 points, including a dagger with 2:06 remaining to put UNH up 51-49.

Noteworthy Numbers…
9: The amount of field goals Temple made in the first half on their way to mustering just 24 points on 26.5 percent shooting from the field.

6:19: The amount of time New Hampshire went without scoring in the second half during a span that saw Temple take a 49-48 lead until David Watkins stuck a three to put the Wildcats up 51-49.

Up Next…
Temple (1-1) @ Massachusetts -- Thurs., Nov. 17, 7:00 PM
New Hampshire (2-0) vs. Abilene Christian -- Thurs., Nov. 17, 7:00 PM