Temple Rally Falls Short Against USF

March 11, 2021 –

The Temple Owls found themselves down by 11 points late in the game. The team responded with a furious rally that fell just short as they could not get a last shot away, and lose 73 – 71 to the USF Bulls at The American Men’s Basketball Championships.

Guard Brendan Barry brought the team back by making 3 consecutive three-point shots, the last one got the Owls to within 67 – 65 with a minute on the clock. The Bulls lead by 4 with 12 seconds left. Temple guard Jeremiah Williams got a layup at the 7 second mark and was fouled. He missed the free throw, and Bulls forward David Collins was fouled as 5.7 seconds showed on the clock. He did not convert giving the Owls one last chance, but Khalif Battle, who scored a team-high 18 points, lost control of the ball as 2 seconds showed on the clock.

“We got a chance to get back in the game with the ball in our hands, maybe tie the game or win the game, but it just didn’t happen,” said Temple Coach Aaron McKie.

The Owls could not quite overcome the second half shooting woes. The Cherry and White started the second half missing 14 of their first 15 shots, and found themselves trailing late in the game.

“We missed a few, so we dug a hole for ourselves,” McKie said. “Throughout the second half we were just playing catch up.”

Then Barry went on his run.

For the game the Owls shot 39.3% (24 of 61) and made 7 of 17 from beyond the arc. Barry and Damian Dunn scored in double-digits getting 11 each. Battle handed out a game-high 5 assists and took down 10 rebounds. Jake Forrest pulled down 11 rebounds for the Owls.

For USF Collins had 23 points, a game-best, while Jamir Chaplin scored 12 and Michael Durr added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Bulls move on the quarterfinal round and meets top-seeded Wichita State. This is the first postseason win for USF since 2016, which came against the Cherry and White. Temple finished the season playing USF three times, winning once. That game was in Florida.

Boxscore

Written By: Glenn Papazian

Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com

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