City of Basketball Love

Ty Daubert (@TyDaubert)

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Temple’s Zach Hicks pressured Kacper Klaczek, twice deflecting the ball from his hands near midcourt. As the ball-handler struggled to corral it, Hysier Miller lunged forward and knocked it toward his teammate, Hicks, who found a streaking Khalif Battle for a thunderous right-handed jam.

That was the formula of the night for the Owls on Tuesday: Hicks and Miller coming through with the little things to complement an eye-popping performance from Battle. The pair of role players each scored 10 points as Temple downed St. Joe’s, 70-60, in a Big 5 matchup at the Liacouras Center, while Battle dropped 20 points in his fifth straight game of scoring 20 or more.

“It could be anybody’s night,” Battle said. “These guys just capitalized off that, as they should.”

The win marked the fourth in a row for Temple (6-4), also clinching a share in the Big 5 title for the first time under head coach Aaron McKie, himself a former Temple star.

“It means a lot,” McKie said. “It’s a win, but it’s something I’ve been a part of my entire life, for the most part. — whether as a fan, or a player or now as a coach. You can put your name in the history books, so I get excited about it.”

With Battle doing what he usually does but guard Damian Dunn struggling to get going offensively, the contributions from Hicks and Miller were key in defeating St. Joe’s (3-5), which has now lost two straight.

Hicks, typically a 3-point specialist, did not shoot particularly well, but grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to record his first double-double. Miller shot just 4-of-13 from the field, but defended well and made timely plays for the Owls.

After a slow-moving start to the first half, the sophomore duo’s aforementioned hustle play led to the high-flying dunk from Battle, putting Temple ahead, 16-11, midway through the half.

“K.B. can jump, man,” Miller said of Battle with a laugh.

However, SJU responded with an 8-0 run, capped by a Cameron Brown 3-pointer to put the Hawks up, 19-16. Brown went 3-for-3 from 3-point range in the first half to score 13 of his game-high 25 points before the break.

“He stepped up,” St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange said. “He’s been in a lot of Big 5 games. … He understands what to expect, and we needed him to do that.”

Hicks then knocked down a 3-pointer to tie it before the two sides went back and forth near the end of the half. But with 10 seconds left in the first, Miller nailed a pull-up 3 to give Temple a 29-26 lead.

Temple quickly went up eight points to start the second with the help of an and-one by Battle, but couldn’t extend the lead much past that to run away with the game early in the half. 

“That’s not the standard,” McKie said, “the way we just kind of stumbled to the finish line.”

Still, the Owls did enough to keep SJU at an arm’s length as Battle hit another and-one layup and Hicks threw down a dunk down the stretch to keep Temple in control.

St. Joe’s, shooting 39.6% from the field in the game, wasn’t able to generate the offense outside of Brown and Erik Reynolds II, who had 16, to make a push in the second half.

“When shots don’t go in,” Lange said, “other guys are not going to score. But it’s a credit to Temple. They came out and made an adjustment. … They’re a very physical team.”

With a team effort leading to the win, Temple will enjoy the victory and the momentum that comes with it while still looking to hit another gear moving forward.

“We still got steps to take,” Miller said.

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Owls to play for outright Big 5 title

Temple improved to 3-0 in the Big 5 with its win over St. Joe’s, clinching at least a share of the city title this season. The Owls will have a chance to claim the Big 5 championship outright on Saturday in their upcoming matchup with Penn.

“I think it’s a major accomplishment for us,” said Miller, a local kid and Neumann-Goretti grad, “... Just putting ourselves in a position to play for a Big 5 championship — and how much it means to the area and to Temple — is a big thing for us.”

With Temple’s first share in a Big 5 title since 2012-2013 already wrapped up, the Owls will be able to take home their first sole championship since 2009-2010, a source of motivation for this Temple roster under a Philadelphia basketball lifer in McKie.

“To come out here,” Battle said, “and to be able to compete Saturday for the ultimate goal — which is a Big 5 championship, bragging rights for the city — we’re really excited about that and we’re focused on that.”

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Brown posts career high in losing effort

It was a career scoring night for Brown in the Hawks’ loss, his 25 points topping a 24-point performance against Davidson in the 2019-2020 season. Temple knew the 6-foot-5 wing, a career 33% 3-point shooter, would be a threat heading into the game, but he still consistently freed himself open to knock down shots beyond the arc.

“We talked about running Brown off the 3-point line,” McKie said. “And, again, it didn’t happen.”

Brown also added a team-high 10 rebounds for St. Joe’s for his third double-double of the season.

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Up next

With an outright Big 5 title on the line, Temple will head to West Philly to take on Penn at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Palestra. St. Joe’s will also resume its schedule on Saturday, hosting St. Peter’s at 1 p.m. at Hagan Arena.