City of Basketball Love

David Gough (@DG0UGH)
& Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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After a sluggish start for Temple that saw the Owls trailing East Carolina midway through the first half, freshman Quinton Rose provided a much needed spark that turned things around for Temple.

Rose’s burst off the bench propelled Temple to its first American Athletic Conference win in an 81-62 triumph over the visiting East Carolina Pirates on Saturday afternoon that snapped a three-game skid for the Owls.

With his team trailing 14-12, the freshman guard drilled a 3-pointer from the wing that got Temple (10-7, 1-3 AAC) its lead back and the Owls never looked back.

“I was just taking what the defense was giving me,” Rose said. “That three, the defense backed off so I knocked it down.”

Rose’s three also broke a cold streak for both teams, as prior to that point they were a combined 0-for-13 from beyond the arc.

Following the three, Rose connected on an and-one layup, and followed that up with another layup as part of eight consecutive Temple points scored by the Rochester, N.Y. native that helped Temple keep ECU (9-8, 1-3 AAC) at bay in the early going.

“He’s a scorer,” Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said. “He can really put points on the board. His 3 in the first half really helped us. It got us back the lead.”

Although Rose’s quick offensive burst helped Temple jump ahead of ECU, the visiting Pirates did not go away quietly as the Pirates would answer every Temple burst with one of their own and trailed by just nine points with 12:25 to go.

With ECU still in striking distance, sophomore center Ernest Aflakpui sent down a thunderous dunk to give his Owls their largest lead of the game to that point, and would ultimately put ECU away for good.

Aflakpui finished with a career-high 13 points, coming on 6-of-10 shooting, and also reeled in a game-high 10 rebounds on his way to notching the third double-double of his young career.

“Ern had a great boost,” senior forward Daniel Dingle said. “His energy is great all the time in practice and games. Just to see him go out there and get rebounds, finish plays, and have solid defense says a lot about him.”

Aflakpui was not alone in carrying the load for Temple, as four other Owls finished with at least 12 points in what was Temple’s most balanced scoring effort of the season.

Dingle cashed in for a game-high 19 points, while also adding in six assists, five rebounds, and three steals while Rose scored 14 points off the bench. Mark Williams and Obi Enechionyia rounded out the Owls’ pack of players to reach double figures with 13 and 12, respectively.

Dingle’s 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including going 7-of-9 from the free throw line, is what the Owls needed to get them back on track after the senior shot just 9-of-37 (.243) from the field during Temple’s three-game losing skid.

“I simply was just taking what the defense gave me,” Dingle said. “Last few games I’ve been passive. As a whole, we’ve been passive and that didn’t lead to getting wins. So we figured we would just go out and be aggressive and me being one of the leaders, I figured I’d set the tone.”

“I thought our offense was good today, obviously in the second half we made a lot of shots,” Dunphy said. “Our guys were really good at sharing the ball today and I thought that showed in the shooting percentage that we had.”

Enechionyia, Temple’s leading scorer, also snapped a cold streak of his own as the junior guard reached the double-digit plateau in back-to-back games after scoring no more than seven points in the three games prior.

“I think Obi is starting to get a better understanding of where he needs to be to get his best opportunities to score,” Dunphy said. “His jump shooting should set up his drives to the basket better than it has been and that’s what we’re working on.”

In a game that Temple shined of the offensive end, the Owls also turned in one of their best defensive efforts on the season as they held ECU to just 62 points, tied for the third lowest total for a Temple opponent this year.

Temple also held every East Carolina player under 10 points, as sophomore Kentrell Barkley led the Pirates’ offensive effort with nine points, while also grabbing six rebounds.

For Temple, who will travel to Connecticut for a Wednesday night contest against the Huskies, they will look to continue the offensive balance and try to turn around their AAC season after a slow 0-3 start.

“Teams are going to have to scout us differently because now they were trying to take Obi out of the equation in order to beat us,” Dingle said. “But now, if everybody’s scoring, we’re going to be a pretty tough team to guard just like the beginning of November.”