Quick Report: Temple 77, Memphis 66

Shizz Alston Jr. (above) went for 22 points as Temple beat Memphis 77-66 on Wednesday night. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Temple sophomore Shizz Alston Jr. continued his terrific scoring output of late, leading the Owls to a 77-66 win over Memphis on Wednesday to snap a three-game losing streak.

At First…
After turning it over on three of its first four possessions, Temple got two early 3-pointers from Daniel Dingle and two buckets from Obi Enechionyia to double up Memphis 10-5 in the game’s first five minutes. The Tigers responded with a 13-1 run to go up as many as seven, though the Owls recovered, briefly taking a two-point lead late in the first half before the teams went into the locker rooms knotted at 30.

Turning Point…
Temple came out hot out of the half, getting two 3-pointers from Alston Jr. to open up a 10-point lead on Memphis within the first four minutes of the second half. From that point on, whenever the Tigers made a run, the Owls seemed to find a 3-pointer to counter; another one from Alston pushed the lead to a dozen at the 11:35 mark, and one from freshman Alani Moore II made it 55-44 with 8:03 remaining.

The Owls’ seniors closed it out down the stretch. Dingle’s 3-point play extended the lead to 14 with 6:30 to play, and then Mark Williams added eight points in the final five minutes, including a put-back of his own miss with two minutes to play and a layup with 80 seconds remaining to keep the lead at 10.

Standout Stars…
Alston Jr. has been on an absolute tear of late, coming into the Memphis game off back-to-back 25-point outings against Tulsa and Cincinnati, and the 6-4 guard out of the Haverford School (Pa.) continued that with a strong outing against Memphis, cracking the 20-point barrier for the third game in a row. He finished with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting (4-8 3PT), collecting five rebounds as well. The senior combo of Dingle (16 points) and Williams (15) had one of their stronger combined outputs of the season as well.

Noteworthy Number(s)...
11: The Owls had a strong day from the perimeter against a Tigers squad that doesn’t typically allow teams to beat it from deep. Temple was 11-of-29 (37.9 percent) on its 3-point shots, above Memphis' typical defensive rate (32 percent) and just one make shy of the Tigers' season high allowed.

5: Assists for freshman guard Quinton Rose, who set new career high in both dimes and rebounds (8) in perhaps his most well-rounded game thus far. Though the 6-5 wing only scored five points on three shots, his presence on the court at the end of the game showed how Temple coach Fran Dunphy felt about his contributions to the win.

Up Next…
Temple (11-10, 2-6 American) @ Houston (14-7, 5-4) -- Sat., Jan. 28, 10:00 PM