City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
& Graham Foley (@Graham_Foley3)
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In their final non-conference game and last game before their brief winter break, the Temple Owls used a red-hot start and strong overall performance from freshman guard Alani Moore II to take down the visiting Yale Bulldogs, 83-77.

At First…
Moore came out of the gates firing for the Owls, helping his team open up a 17-7 lead in the first seven minutes, as the freshman singlehandedly took Temple on a 12-0 run with four consecutive triples. The Bulldogs quickly responded to Moore’s hot start, scoring the next nine points to pull it back to a one-point game within the next two minutes.

From there, Temple used a quick six points from Mark Williams to regain control, and open up a 26-19 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the half on a Shizz Alston, Jr. three. The Bulldogs used a couple of transition baskets to cut the lead to as few as five, but the Owls were still able to go into the break up 35-28.

Turning Point…
Temple took its biggest lead of the game at 48-35 5:35 into the second half after senior guard Daniel Dingle connected on back-to-back 3-point shots and Alston hit slammed a breakaway dunk before hitting a triple of his own. Yale cut the deficit to as few as four points with 21.5 seconds remaining before Temple free throws from Alston and freshman guard Quinton Rose put the game away and sealed a Temple 83-77 win.

Standout Stars…
Following his explosive start, Moore finished with 26 points, leading both teams. He went 6-for-12 from the field including 4-for-8 from beyond the arc.

After a 13 point second half, Dingle finished with 19 points. While shooting 4-of-12 from the field, most of Dingle’s points came from his perfection at the foul line making all nine of his free throws.

Yale’s senior forward Sam Downey, and freshman guards Miye Oni, and Jordan Bruner led the team with 15 points each. Bruner’s added four key blocks, leading the team in that category. Oni led the team in 3-point shots hitting three of his eight long distance attempts.

Noteworthy Numbers…
14: Temple couldn’t get anything going down low; the Owls were outscored by Yale 32-14 in the paint, and their lead big man, Obi Enechionyia, scored just three points.

2: Yale did not lead at all throughout Thursday night, and only tied the game twice, both in the early first half. In the second half, Temple’s smallest lead was five points.

2: Other than two exceptions in the final minute, Temple couldn’t miss on free throws in their win over Yale, as they shot 28-of-30 from the charity stripe.

Up Next…
Temple (9-4) vs. Cincinnati -- Wed, Dec. 28 @ 9:00 PM