Temple University Athletics

Men's Basketball Falls Just Short to #15/16 Cincinnati Despite Career-High 33 Points by Dalton Pepper
1.26.14 | Men's Basketball
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PHILADELPHIA - With an incredible effort from Dalton Pepper in the second half, Temple men's basketball came all the way back from a 19-point deficit against #15/16 Cincinnati, but could not pull ahead and lost 80-76 to the Bearcats (19-2, 8-0) on Sunday afternoon. Pepper finished with a career-high 33 points that included a career-high eight three-pointers, and he scored 27 of those points in the second half.
Over a a four and a half minute stretch starting near the seven-minute mark of the second half, Temple (5-13, 0-7) went on a 12-1 run and allowed Cincinnati just a single free throw. The end of the run had Temple within three, and two minutes later Pepper tied the game at 76-76 with his eighth three-pointer, tying a TU mark for treys in the Liacouras Center (David Hawkins, 2004).
Down 78-76 with 7.2 seconds remaining, the Owls had the ball but a jumper by Josh Brown was blocked by the Bearcats' Jermaine Sanders. Temple fouled to send Cincinnati to the line, but the Bearcats hit both and the Owls had less than a second on their final possession.
Will Cummings scored 14 points and dished five assists for Temple, while Anthony Lee finished with 12 points. Both players led the Owls with six rebounds.
Cincinnati's Sean Kilpatrick led his team with 29 points and eight rebounds. The Owls' defense held the Bearcats' standout to just two points over the final 13 minutes of play.
Temple struggled from the field throughout the first half, shooting 27 percent to Cincinnati's nearly 45 percent. While seven of eight Owls on the court did score, each managed just a single field goal.
Cummings went 6-of-7 from the free throw line in the half, and led the Owls with nine points at the break. Pepper added 3-of-3 free-throw shooting to a three-pointer, totaling six at halftime.
The Bearcats did not take advantage of the Owls' woes early on, and never led by more than five until the final four minutes of the half. Temple tied the game for a fourth time at 19-19, and trailed by just two, 23-21 before Cincinnati closed the half on a 13-5 run.
Kilpatrick accounted for nearly half of his team's first-half points, leading all players with 16 at the break.
Less than five minutes into the second half, Temple trailed by 17 points when Pepper made a layup that would begin his impressive run. Cincinnati briefly led by as many as 19 before Pepper really got going and scored 19 of Temple's 23 points over a five and a half minute stretch.
Pepper's sixth three-pointer of the game put the Owls within 12, 65-53 at 9:11. Just past the eight-minute mark, he assisted on a DeCosey jumper that cut the margin to 10.
The Bearcats went back up by 14 before the 12-1 run for the Owls. Down 74-69 at 2:31 after two made free throws by Cincinnati, Pepper turned the ball over but came right back with a steal and was fouled. He and Cummings both hit 2-of-2 at the line over the next 40 seconds, countered only by a single field goal for Cincinnati.
After Cummings' points at the stripe put Temple within three, 76-73 at 1:15, he got the defensive rebound at the other end and then an offensive rebound at Temple's end, eventually getting the ball to Pepper who drained his eighth trey for the tie with 36 seconds remaining.
Lee committed his fifth foul on Cincinnati's next possession, sending Kilpatrick to the line where he converted both ends of a 1-and-1.
Temple will be back at home on Wednesday, Jan. 29, facing Rutgers at 7:00 p.m. on ESPNews.