Huge Comeback Lifts Men's Basketball to 89-86 Upset of No. 25 Florida State

Thursday, November 24

Brooklyn, N.Y.

12:30 p.m.

Temple University

3-2

Florida State

4-1

Temple

Florida State

Photo by: Rich Schmitt

Huge Comeback Lifts Men's Basketball to 89-86 Upset of No. 25 Florida State

11.24.16 | Men's Basketball

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BROOKLYN - For the 10th season in a row, Temple men's basketball has defeated a nationally ranked team, making a huge comeback to defeat No. 25 Florida State 89-86 in the NIT Season Tip-Off on Thanksgiving Day. Freshman Quinton Rose scored a game and season-high 26 points to lead the Owls (3-2), who were down by 18 points to the Seminoles (4-1) in the second half before storming back for the win.

Temple will play in the championship game on Friday at 3:00 p.m. (ESPN2 / 1210 AM WHPT) against the winner of No. 19/17 West Virginia and Illinois in Thursday's second game (3 p.m./ESPNU).

Rose got 12 of his points at the free throw line, hitting 12-of-15 including a pair with 1.5 seconds left to put the Owls up by three.

Sophomore Shizz Alston, Jr. scored a career-high 22 points including 4-of-8 three-pointers, while also dishing four assists and recording three steals. Junior Obi Enechionyia was the Owls' third scorer in double figures, finishing with 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

Making Temple's win even more impressive was Florida State's 55-percent shooting from the field. The Seminoles hit 58 percent in the second half to Temple's 53 percent, but the Owls made eight second-half three-pointers to overcome the difference.

Dwayne Bacon led four scorers in double figures for FSU, finishing with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field.

The first half was an up-and-down one for the Owls, who followed scoring droughts with stretches of high efficiency on offense. Florida State used an early 8-0 run to take an 11-4 lead before Temple hit 3-of-3 and cut the deficit to three, 13-10 at 11:57.

With seven minutes left in the half, the Seminoles were shooting 50 percent from the field with the Owls hanging right there with them at 47 percent. Temple was down by just four, 25-21 at that point, but a 13-5 run for Florida State gave the Seminoles a 12-point, 38-26 lead, their largest of the half with 1:32 remaining.

FSU took a 10-point, 41-31 lead into the break, led by Xavier Rathan-Mayes with 11 points. Rose came off the bench for nine first-half points to lead Temple. The Owls committed an uncharacteristic eight turnovers in the opening period, but forced seven by Florida State.

Alston cut Florida State's lead to eight points to open the second half, but it was as close as Temple would get until less than nine minutes remained in the game. The Seminoles rebuilt their double-digit lead and went on to lead by as many as 18 points, 60-42 at 13:29.

Still down 14 at the midway point, the Owls began to chip away. Just over three minutes later, Temple had its first lead at 73-72 on an Alani Moore II three-pointer after making a 21-6 run.

Two ties and six lead changes followed, but another trey by Moore with 4:50 left put the Owls in the lead for good. Enechionyia gave Temple both of its largest leads of five points, the second with 2:10 left on the clock.

Florida State cut the margin to a point at 1:20, but the Owls managed the clock well and gave the Seminoles only one more solid chance to score. After a missed FSU layup, Rose was fouled with 1.5 seconds left and hit both free throws. Rathan-Mayes hit the rim on his nearly full-court heave at the buzzer, but the shot didn't fall.

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