City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Even during his high school days in Mississippi, Damion Moore wasn’t known as a scorer.

During his junior season at Callaway High School, he averaged fewer than four points per game as he forfeited the spotlight to former top recruit and current Kansas player Malik Newman. As a senior, his role expanded, but he averaged just more than 11 points per game.

In his first two seasons at Temple, Moore’s offensive role remained limited, but Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, he had the chance to shine. Moore scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed a career best nine rebounds in by far the best game of his young career in Temple’s 76-60 win against South Carolina.

“All week I just stayed focused, ready for this game,” Moore said.

Prior to Thursday night’s game, Moore had only reached double figures one time in his career, when he scored 11 points in a previous career-high 20 minutes against Connecticut last season.

Moore’s best outing this season was a nine-point performance against Auburn in the Charleston Classic. The 6-foot-11 center hadn’t played more than 14 minutes in Temple’s first four games.

However, junior center Ernest Aflakpui played just three minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls and was on the court for just seven total minutes before picking up his fourth foul with 10:30 left in the game.

Aflakpui’s foul trouble set the stage for a breakout performance for Moore, who came into the game averaging 3.8 points in fewer than 13 minutes per game. He played 26 minutes in Thursday's win, making 8-of-11 attempts from the floor.

“That was terrific what he gave us,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. “Big Ern was in foul trouble most of the time, but Damion did some really, really good things. He can really score it.”

Thursday night looked like it was going to be the Quinton Rose show.

The sophomore guard scored six of Temple’s first nine points and finished with 14 in the first half. He tallied 24 points in the win, two shy of his career high.

Rose said Moore’s big night kept the lane open for him when he drove to the hoop.

“That makes it 1,000 times easier, being that the defense has to make a decision earlier,” Rose said. “If (Moore) has it going, then he knows I’m dumping it off, but he also has to step up and stop me from scoring.”

Moore found the bottom of the net in a variety of ways on Thursday night. He had five offensive rebounds, which helped him get some easy buckets. He got some point-blank looks when Rose and others fed him the ball as they drove to the rim.

He showed off his mid-range jumper, even hitting a fade away from the post late in the second half as he scored six straight points for Temple.

Despite his outing, Moore is not locked into a spot in the starting lineup, which Dunphy said doesn’t really matter anyway. The Owls’ head coach said he is looking forward to Moore playing more meaningful minutes as the season progresses though.

“He’s coming on, but he’s gotta work even harder at it,” Dunphy said. “A game like this tonight will give him more confidence and it will bode well for him.”