City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Temple shocked the crowd at the Barclays Center by jumping out to a huge halftime lead over No. 19 West Virginia, then hung on against the wild “Press Virginia” defense to take home a 81-77 win and the Preseason NIT championship.

At First…
Though West Virginia (4-1) threatened to blow the game open early, jumping out to a quick 7-0 advantage Temple (4-2) responded with a 13-0 run of its own to take a lead it held for quite some time. Another run, 9-0, pushed the lead to 27-16, and a 16-5 stretch to close out the first half gave Temple a 45-25 lead at the break. Temple junior Obi Enechionyia was terrific in the opening 20 minutes, dropping 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, as the Owls made 16-of-29 (55.1 percent) of their first-half shots.

West Virginia chipped away at the Temple lead over the first eight minutes of the second half, reeling in the Owls from 20 points down to single digits for the first time at 58-49 with 12:19 remaining. WVU sophomore Esa Ahmad, who had a quiet first half with two points, scored five straight points to cut the deficit to three, and the Mountaineers took the lead for the first time at 65-64 with 8:16 remaining.

Turning Point…
Though Temple sophomore Levan Alston went to the bench with 7:16 remaining after appearing to injure his hand, freshman Quinton Rose filled in admirably to help the Owls respond. His foul shots with seven minutes left pushed Temple back on top by one; Enechionyia’s triple with 5:25 left pushed it back to four, and Temple was able to come up with enough defensive stops and just enough buckets to keep the advantage as the clock ticked down.

Temple freshman Alani Moore came up with the most clutch rebound of his career, grabbing an offensive rebound over a West Virginia player with the Owls up one point and 37 seconds remaining. His foul shots with 14 seconds left made it a three-point lead, and after Alston blocked a Teyvon Myers shot, Enechionyia knocked down a final foul shot to seal the win.

Standout Stars…
Enechionyia has emerged as a true go-to-scorer for Temple over the opening stretch of the season, and kept that rolling with another standout performance on a big-time stage Friday afternoon. The 6-foot-10 stretch forward finished with 22 points for his fourth 20-point performance of the season, adding in 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and first since the season opener. Moore added 18 points, including a perfect 8-8 from the foul stripe; senior Daniel Dingle had 15 points and five rebounds but also turned it over eight times.

Ahmad, a 6-8 Cleveland native, finished with 19 points to lead West Virginia, getting 17 of those after halftime. Myers added 15, and Nathan Adrian/Tarik Phillip added 13 apiece.

Noteworthy Number(s)...
11: Temple hung on despite committing 11 second-half turnovers and 11 second-half fouls.

2: It was the Owls' second consecutive win over a Top 25 program, as they also took down No. 25 Florida State on Thursday to advance to the championship game. Temple has beaten a Top-25 opponent in 10 consecutive seasons.

87.5: Temple was terrific from the foul line, making 87.5 percent of its free throws both for the game (21-of-24) and in the second half (14-of-16) to hold on for the win. West Virginia took 15 of its 18 foul shots in the second half but only made nine of those; the Mountaineers were 11-for-18 (61.1 percent) for the game.

Up Next…
Temple (4-2) @ Saint Joseph’s (3-2) -- Wed., Nov. 30, 7 PM