Men's Basketball Wins Puerto Rico Tip-Off Opener 75-70 Over Minnesota

Thursday, November 19

San Juan, Puerto Rico

11:30 a.m.

Temple University

1-1

Minnesota

2-1

Temple

Minnesota

Photo by: Eric Espada

Men's Basketball Wins Puerto Rico Tip-Off Opener 75-70 Over Minnesota

11.19.15 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Four players scored in double figures to lead Temple men's basketball to a 75-70 win over Minnesota (2-1) in the Owls' first game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Thursday. Temple (1-1) will move on to face #22 Butler on Friday at 1 p.m. (ET). The Bulldogs advanced with a 93-59 win against Missouri State.

The Owls led by five at halftime, but were down as many as six with less than eight minutes left before making a comeback. They held the Golden Gophers to just a single, last-second field goal in over eight minutes to close out the game, and junior Josh Brown hit 4-of-4 at the line in the final 25 seconds to seal the win.

Senior Jaylen Bond put up 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field to lead the Owls. Senior Devin Coleman and sophomore Obi Enechionyia scored 15 points and 14 points, respectively, each hitting three shots from behind the arc. Senior Quenton DeCosey passed the 1,000-point mark for his career early in the game, and finished with 12 points.

Minnesota was led by Nate Mason with 20 points, including 11-of-12 free throws.

Bond scored all seven of Temple's points early on, and then 10 of the Owls' first 13 to keep them on pace with the Gophers. The other bucket for Temple came on a three-pointer from DeCosey that lifted him over the 1,000-point mark.

After Bond hit a trey at 11:07, it was over four minutes before Temple got another shot to go from the field. Minnesota was unable to take much advantage, but did lead by as many as four, 17-13 near the midway point.

Enechionyia, seeing his first action of the season after sitting out the opener with an ankle injury, made his presence felt down the stretch of the first half. He hit back-to-back three-pointers for a 22-19 Temple lead at 6:10, and the Owls did not trail again in the first half.

Minnesota tied it up at 22-22, but a Trey Lowe trey at 3:02 gave the Owls a lead they would hold through halftime. His shot from long range started a 7-0 Temple run, and the Gophers scored just four points, all at the free throw line, in the final four and a half minutes.

Bond hit his final bucket of the first half with 53 seconds left, giving the Owls a 31-26 lead at the break. His 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting led all players at halftime.

Temple kept its momentum early in the second half, hitting seven of its first eight shots from the field including a trio of three-pointers to lead by nine, 48-39 at 13:44. It would be the Owls' largest lead of the contest, as they began to struggle both from the field and with their ball-handling. After committing just one first-half turnover, the Owls recorded nine in the second half.

During Temple's drought, Minnesota surged ahead with a 17-2 run to take a 56-50 lead with 8:20 remaining. The Owls went nearly seven minutes without a field goal until Coleman hit a three-pointer at 7:05, followed by an old-fashioned three-point play for Lowe that tied the game. That was the start of a 15-2 run that put the Owls up 65-58 under the four-minute mark, and Minnesota got within no fewer than three the rest of the way.

Ten of the game's final 12 points were scored at the free throw line, and Minnesota's Mason hit 4-of-4 to close the gap to 71-68 with 27 seconds left. After missing two foul shots in between Mason's attempts, Brown got four more chances for the Owls and hit them all.

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