Men's Basketball Edges Defending National Champ UConn in American Opener, 57-53

Wednesday, December 31

Hartford, CT

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

(10-4, 1-0)

UConn

(6-5, 0-1)

OT 1

Temple

UConn

Photo by: Jessica Hill

Men's Basketball Edges Defending National Champ UConn in American Opener, 57-53

12.31.14 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

HARTFORD, Conn. - For the first time in almost 30 years, Temple men's basketball took down a defending NCAA champion as the Owls held off UConn, 57-53 in overtime. It was the fourth win in a row for the Owls (10-4, 1-0), as well as the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Senior guard Jesse Morgan's 17 points fueled Temple, with Morgan hitting four shots from behind the arc. Morgan also pulled down a career-high six rebounds to tie for team-high honors with junior Jaylen Bond. While Temple struggled from the free throw line, junior Quenton DeCosey hit a couple of big ones in overtime and finished with nine points at the line and 11 overall.

The Owls had played the defending national champion 11 times previously since the early 1950's, winning just once against Villanova in 1985. This was Temple's seventh game and first win against a defending champ since the 2000-01 season. It was also the Owls' first win in five tries against the Huskies, dating back to 1964.

It was a low-scoring affair throughout, including in the overtime period in which Temple out-scored UConn just 6-2. The Huskies answered an early Temple bucket in the first minute of OT, but did not score again. The teams went a combined 2-for-13 from the field in overtime, with the final Temple miss giving UConn the ball down two with 13 seconds left.

The Huskies' Daniel Hamilton was fouled on a three-point shot with just 2.8 seconds remaining, but after missing the first two, an intentional miss on the third saw him commit a lane violation. Senior Will Cummings then hit 2-of-2 at the line for Temple to seal the overtime victory.

Cummings finished with eight points along with game-highs of seven assists and four steals.

UConn (6-5, 0-1) got off to a tough start in the game, hitting just one of its first eight shots to allow the Owls to take a slim early lead, 6-2. After a few more shots fell for the Huskies, they led 9-8, but it would be short-lived.

The Owls hit three shots from behind the arc in a 13-4 run that gave them an eight-point, 21-13 lead with 7:38 left in the half. The game of runs then continued, as Temple went cold and UConn used an 8-0 run to tie the game near the four-minute mark.

The final minutes were a struggle for both teams, but a couple free throws for Temple and a final layup for Daniel Dingle put the Owls up 25-21 at the break.

Temple's first-half success came almost entirely from behind the arc, as the Owls hit 4-of-12 from long range but just 3-of-17 two-pointers. The Huskies shot 40 percent to Temple's 24 percent, but did not hit a shot from three-point range.

After going over three minutes without a point to end the first half, UConn came out strong in the second and used an 8-2 run to take a 29-27 lead. Two ties followed before the Owls took a lead they would not relinquish until the final seconds of the half.

Temple's lead was never more than six, but the Owls looked strong with a 51-45 lead on Morgan's fourth trey of the game with 1:51 remaining. Late turnovers then proved costly for Temple, as did a couple of misses on the front end of 1-and-1 situations. The three-pointer by Morgan would prove to be the final points of the half for the Owls, and the Huskies hit 2-of-2 at the line with 46 seconds left to come within two, 51-49.

After a long three-point miss for Dingle, the Huskies' Rodney Purvis took the ball down for a dunk to tie the game with 12 seconds remaining. Temple did not get a foul call on a layup miss in the final seconds, sending the game to overtime.

UConn played without leading scorer Ryan Boatright (19.2 ppg) for much of the game and nearly all of the second half after he left with a deep left thigh bruise. The Owls held him to just two points in his 17 minutes of action.

Temple will take its four-game win streak back to its home court, where the Owls are 6-0 so far this season. Next up is a noon contest against UCF on Sunday, Jan. 4 (ESPNews/1210 AM WPHT).

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