Temple University Athletics
Saturday, January 4
Orlando, FL
4:00 PM
Temple University
76
at
78
UCF
Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University
Cummings' Hometown Heroics Not Enough as Men's Basketball Falls To UCF, 78-76
1.4.14 | Men's Basketball
Boxscore (PDF) | Dunphy Interview | Cummings Interview
ORLANDO, FL - Junior Will Cummings exploded for a career-high 31 points in his return to his home state, but his herculean effort fell short as Temple men's basketball dropped another close contest, 78-76, to Central Florida Saturday afternoon at the CFE Arena. The Owls fall to 5-7 overall and 0-2 in the American Athletic Conference. UCF improves to 9-4, while evening its league mark at 1-1.
The Owl point guard, coming off a season-low five-point performance at Rutgers on New Year's night, scored 20 first half point with 14 coming in a 19-4 run that allowed the Owls to overcome a sluggish start and take a 25-24 lead.
The game would go back and forth the remainder of the half with UCF taking a 40-38 edge at the break courtesy of a Kasey Wilson (18 points) three-pointer.
Already short-handed with the injury to sophomore swingman Daniel Dingle, the Owls lost his replacement in the starting lineup, freshman forward Mark Williams, who suffered a left ankle sprain during the opening period. His status is day-to-day.
As expected, UCF worked to shutdown Cummings in the second half, but sophomore Quenton DeCosey (14 points) and junior Anthony Lee (12 points) helped pick up the slack.
Freshman Josh Brown, who had career highs in minutes (33), points (7) and rebounds (team-high 7), also had a solid final 20 minutes.
After a tightly-contested first 10 minutes of the second half, the Knights opened up a seven-point advantage on an Isaiah Sykes (23 points) lay-up with 7:33 remaining (66-59).Â
The Owls answered with seven straight points as Cummings converted a three-point play and DeCosey and Brown each added baskets.
UCF scored the next four points to take a 70-66 lead, one they would not relinquish.Â
The Owls would cut the deficit to one twice, the final time on a Cummings jumper with 1:37 remaining.Â
Following a Dalton Pepper turnover with the Owls trailing, 75-72, it appeared that Temple had forced a 10-second violation. An inadvertent whistle by an official, however, prevented the Owls from taking possession. Instead UCF extended its lead to four on a Calvin Newell free throw to make it 76-72.
The teams traded made free throws on the next two possessions before a Pepper missed trey ended any chance for a TU comeback.
Temple next hosts its first-ever American Athletic Conference opponent Thursday when South Florida comes to the Liacouras Center for a 7:00 pm game televised on ESPNU.
ORLANDO, FL - Junior Will Cummings exploded for a career-high 31 points in his return to his home state, but his herculean effort fell short as Temple men's basketball dropped another close contest, 78-76, to Central Florida Saturday afternoon at the CFE Arena. The Owls fall to 5-7 overall and 0-2 in the American Athletic Conference. UCF improves to 9-4, while evening its league mark at 1-1.
The Owl point guard, coming off a season-low five-point performance at Rutgers on New Year's night, scored 20 first half point with 14 coming in a 19-4 run that allowed the Owls to overcome a sluggish start and take a 25-24 lead.
The game would go back and forth the remainder of the half with UCF taking a 40-38 edge at the break courtesy of a Kasey Wilson (18 points) three-pointer.
Already short-handed with the injury to sophomore swingman Daniel Dingle, the Owls lost his replacement in the starting lineup, freshman forward Mark Williams, who suffered a left ankle sprain during the opening period. His status is day-to-day.
As expected, UCF worked to shutdown Cummings in the second half, but sophomore Quenton DeCosey (14 points) and junior Anthony Lee (12 points) helped pick up the slack.
Freshman Josh Brown, who had career highs in minutes (33), points (7) and rebounds (team-high 7), also had a solid final 20 minutes.
After a tightly-contested first 10 minutes of the second half, the Knights opened up a seven-point advantage on an Isaiah Sykes (23 points) lay-up with 7:33 remaining (66-59).Â
The Owls answered with seven straight points as Cummings converted a three-point play and DeCosey and Brown each added baskets.
UCF scored the next four points to take a 70-66 lead, one they would not relinquish.Â
The Owls would cut the deficit to one twice, the final time on a Cummings jumper with 1:37 remaining.Â
Following a Dalton Pepper turnover with the Owls trailing, 75-72, it appeared that Temple had forced a 10-second violation. An inadvertent whistle by an official, however, prevented the Owls from taking possession. Instead UCF extended its lead to four on a Calvin Newell free throw to make it 76-72.
The teams traded made free throws on the next two possessions before a Pepper missed trey ended any chance for a TU comeback.
Temple next hosts its first-ever American Athletic Conference opponent Thursday when South Florida comes to the Liacouras Center for a 7:00 pm game televised on ESPNU.
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