City of Basketball Love

David Gough (@DG0UGH)
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Temple came out of the gates on fire and put South Florida in a hole too deep to get out of and held on to defeat the Bulls by a score of 83-74 on Saturday afternoon.

“Usually other teams throw the first punch and we get on our heels and probably find ourselves down six or eight points from the start trying to fight back,” fifth year senior Dan Dingle said. “I think, definitely, that scoring early is great.”

In the first 20 seconds of the game, Obi Enechionyia had a block and then a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the other end.

The sequence was the beginning of a fast start for the Owls (13-11, 4-7)  as they reached the first media timeout with a 15-4 lead.

That stretch included four 3-pointers by four different players as Shizz Alston, Jr., Dingle, and Alani Moore also connected from beyond the arc in the first five and a half minutes.

They began the day 4-of-6 from three before they ultimately hit 8-of-16 in the first 20 minutes,. The Owls hit four more in the second half on their way to making a season-high 12 triples for a third time this season.

Temple shot a successful 52.2 percent from beyond the arc. Its 23 attempts puts the Owls at 598 3-point attempts for the season. No one in the American has reached 500.\

“We are a 3-point shooting team. That’s what we do. I thought today because of the good ball movement we made some really good shots,” coach Fran Dunphy said.

In a first half that ended with Temple doubling up South Florida (6-16, 0-11) 46-23, all eight Owls contributed at least one field goal. Dingle went into the locker room leading the team with 11.

He hit each of his first three attempts beyond the arc while also throwing down a dunk in the middle of a 9-0 run that opened up the game for Temple.

Dingle connected three more times beyond the arc in the second half going 6-of-7 from three on the day. The Bronx, New York, native tied a career high with 22 points.

“I think he’s really gone to a different level. He really played well today,” Dunphy said. “He’s doing things at the right time for us.”

The Owls shot 62.1 percent from the field in the first half making 18 of their shots. South Florida struggled offensively, shooting just 11-of-30 (36.7 percent) in the opening half including an 0-for-5 start before Tulio Da Silva hit a jumper over three minutes into the game.

“Early on, we did a good job defensively,” Dingle said. “If somebody’s helping you behind, I’m going to pressure the guy knowing that Shizz or Obi have my back.”

Despite Temple’s largest halftime lead of the year, the Bulls -- who have yet to win a game in AAC play  -- still put up a fight.

They worked their way all the way back from a 27-point deficit early in the second half and chip it to single digit with 1:50 left after a Troy Holston triple.

Fortunately for the Owls, that’s as close as South Florida got. Alston Jr. iced the game making all six of his free throw attempts down the stretch on his way to 14 points.

“Any time, he can have the ball in his hands. He’s a very good foul shooter,” Dunphy said. “We want that ball in Shizz’s hands and he stepped up and made all six of his late.”

Temple hit 15-of-19 (78.9 percent) free throws in the game. That’s good for an above average day at the charity stripe in which they came in Sunday as the second best free throw shooting team in the AAC making 72.3 percent of their attempts.

Archbishop Carroll product Ernest Aflakpui also contributed six points at the free throw line in eight attempts on his way to a career-high 14 points. His performance was similar to his most productive outing against East Carolina on January 7.

The sophomore scored 13 in that one to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds. On Sunday, he reeled in a game-high seven rebounds to go along with his new career high in points.

That’s good progress for a player that didn’t see a lot of action last season and has been a regular starter in this one.

“He’s still learning how to play, how to get to spots,” Dunphy said. “We need his aggressiveness, we need his rebounding. he’s getting better.”