City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Temple put up a good effort in the second half, but couldn’t overcome a rough first in a 79-65 road loss to Southern Methodist.

At First…
Temple’s Obi Enechionyia helped the Owls out to an early five-point advantage with two 3-pointers, a welcome sight for the junior forward, who entered the game in a bit of a slump of late. Those good vibes didn’t last long, however, as Southern Methodist dominated the closing 14 minutes of the first half. The Mustangs outscored their visitors 25-4 over one 10-minute stretch, taking a 40-22 lead into the break thanks to a 22-12 rebounding edge and eight Temple turnovers.

The second half began with something of a roller-coaster: Temple started it 14-7 to cut the deficit to 11; Southern Methodist scored eight straight to help push it back to 20; Temple on an 11-3 run to get back to within 12.

Turning Point…
Temple chipped away the entire second half, getting within nine points on a steal-and-finish by freshman Quinton Rose with 1:53 to play. But they missed 3-point attempts on their next two possessions that could have put a little bit of a scare into a veteran SMU squad, which made enough foul shots in the last 90 seconds to win its ninth straight game.

Standout Stars…
Southern Methodist was led by do-everything forward Semi Ojeleye. The Duke transfer is in the midst of a breakout junior season, and he continued that with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting and nine rebounds. Senior Ben Moore and sophomore Shake Milton also contributed above their season averages, with each going for 18 points and seven rebounds.

After scoring in single digits for three consecutive games, Obi Enechionyia got back into his more typical outing with 16 points, though it took him 17 shots to get there; Shizz Alston Jr. also had 16 for the second game in a row and third time in four games, going 4-for-8 from 3-point range.

Noteworthy Number(s)...
17: Though Temple did a better job on the glass as the game went on, Southern Methodist still finished with a 42-25 rebounding advantage; where that ultimately translated was on the foul line, where SMU was 24-of-34 (70.6 percent) compared to Temple’s 7-of-10 (70.0 percent).

Up Next…
Temple (9-7, 0-3 AAC) vs. East Carolina (9-7, 1-2) -- Sat., Jan. 7, Noon