City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Temple sent its seniors off in style, locking up the top seed in the American Athletic Conference's postseason tournament thanks to a 72-62 win over Memphis at the Liacouras Center on Thursday evening.

At First…
Memphis scored the first point of the game but Temple responded with the next nine, leading the rest of the way through an opening 20 minutes that saw the Owls take a 39-30 advantage into the break. Junior guard Josh Brown had a strong all-around first half with eight points, four rebounds, five assists and no turnovers as his team put up 12 assists on 16 buckets while giving it away just twice. Temple had trouble early on with Memphis senior forward Shaq Goodwin, who poured in 14 points in the first half.

Turning Point…
Temple held Memphis at arm’s length for the first eight minutes of the second half, at which point the lead was a dozen. Then the Owls went cold, making just two of 15 shots over a seven-minute stretch as the Tigers closed the gap to three, 60-57, on a 3-pointer by Avery Woodson with 4:33 remaining.

But the Tigers only scored two points over the next four minutes as the Owls closed the door. Senior guard Devin Coleman delivered a crucial triple to help Temple seal the win, dropping one from the left wing to make it 66-59 with 1:33 left; Brown found a plunging Bond the next possession to push the lead to nine, and two Brown foul shots with 26 seconds left ended any Memphis hope.

Standout Stars…
Brown continued his stellar run of play at the point, finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds and eight assists without a turnover. Over the last eight games, the 6-3 guard out of St. Anthony (N.J.) has 44 assists against five turnovers, an 8.8:1 ratio. He was one of five Owls to finish in double figures: senior Jaylen Bond had 15 and 10 rebounds, followed by senior Quenton DeCosey (13), Coleman (12) and sophomore forward Obi Enechionyia (10).

Memphis was led by senior Ricky Tarrant Jr.'s 18 points. Goodwin only added two points after halftime to finish with 16, while freshman Dedric Lawson had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Noteworthy Numbers…
1: With the win, Temple secured the top seed in the American Athletic Conference tournament for the first time in the league’s three-year history. Last year, the Owls earned the No. 4 seed and were knocked out by No. 1 SMU in the league’s semifinals.

2: With a slam dunk to open the scoring column for Temple, senior center Devontae Watson scored his first two points of the season. The 6-11 post player from Lincoln Park (Pa.) started his 50th career game on Thursday night but it was only his eighth appearance of the 2015-16 season, with only 42 minutes of court time entering Senior Night.

Up Next…
Temple (19-10, 13-4 American) @ Tulane (March 6, 2 PM)
Memphis (16-14, 7-10 American) @ East Carolina (March 6, 4 PM)