Temple University Athletics
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Men's Basketball Overcomes Furious Penn Rally to Win Big 5 and Season Opener, 78-73
11.9.13 | Men's Basketball
Gallery | Postgame Interviews
PHILADELPHIA - Closing with a 7-0 run, Temple men's basketball overcame a furious rally by Penn to win its Philadelphia Big 5 and season opener, 78-73, Saturday evening at a sold-out Palestra. Dalton Pepper led the Owls with a career-high 19 points while Will Cummings scored a career-high 18 points. Anthony Lee finished with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds for Temple.
The Owls held a comfortable, 14-point lead with eight minutes remaining, but the Quakers exploded for an 18-2 run and briefly held a two-point lead, 73-71 with 1:38 left in the game. Lee, who had been the lone scorer for the Owls over that seven minutes, tied the game with 1:16 to go and Penn did not score again.
Quenton DeCosey also scored in double figures for Temple with 12 points. Freshman Mark Williams had a strong debut with nine rebounds and five points, and Pepper also pulled down nine boards to go with his 19 points.
Penn sophomore Tony Hicks was impressive all game, scoring 28 points to lead all players and come just one shy of his career high.
After a slow start that saw the Owls trailing Penn 9-4 in the opening minutes, Temple hit its stride and scored 12 unanswered points to take a 16-9 lead at 14:33.
Pepper, who had hit a three for Temple's first points of the game, scored seven more in the run and was the first to hit double figures with 10 points in the first nine minutes.
The Quakers got five points from Hicks in a quick 7-0 run to come back within a point, but it was as close as they would get. Temple went on to lead by as many as nine in the half before Penn's final bucket made it 42-35 Owls at the break.
The pace of the first half was slowed with 24 total fouls, and both teams were in the double bonus with nearly three minutes left. Temple took advantage on its end, hitting 11-of-15 at the free throw line, and the Owls also dominated on the boards. At halftime, Temple had a 31-18 advantage in rebounds, including a 13-4 edge on the offensive glass.
Cummings' first four points of the second half gave Temple its first double-digit lead of 49-39, and only with a single free throw did Penn come within single digits for the next 10 minutes of the half. With his first three-pointer of the game at 12:56, Cummings hit his career high with 17 points. That bucket gave the Owls their largest lead of 15, 63-48.
Temple matched that lead on two more occasions in the next three minutes, both times with points by the Owls' two true freshmen, Williams and Josh Brown.
Pepper hit a long two-pointer near the eight-minute mark for a 14-point Temple lead, but the Owls then went cold down the stretch as Penn came alive. After Hicks capped the Quakers' run when Temple was called for goaltending on his layup at 1:38, Lee tied the game with a layup at the other end to start the Owls' 7-0 closing run.
With just 45 seconds left, Pepper recorded a steal that led to a fastbreak layup and a two-point lead. After a Penn miss, Cummings was fouled and made 1-of-2 at the line. The Quakers came up empty again on their next possession, and Pepper hit 2-of-2 at the stripe with 2.4 seconds left for the final tally.
