Alston, Jr. Drops 30 Points in Men's Basketball's 83-67 Win Over Detroit Mercy

Friday, November 9

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 p.m.

Temple University

2-0

Detroit Mercy

0-2

Detroit Mercy

Temple

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Alston, Jr. Drops 30 Points in Men's Basketball's 83-67 Win Over Detroit Mercy

11.9.18 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Senior guard Shizz Alston, Jr. hit seven three-pointers on his way to scoring a career-high 30 points and leading Temple to an 83-67 win over Detroit Mercy (0-2) in the GotPrint.com Legends Classic presented by Old Trapper. The Owls (2-0) are a regional host, and will play one more home game in the tournament against Loyola (MD) on Nov. 16 before heading to Brooklyn.

Game Summary
> The Owls got off to a slow start and trailed by as many as 11, but recovered quickly with an 11-0 run.
> Temple really put the game away with a 17-0 run in the second half, and the Owls led by no fewer than 10 points for the final 13 and a half minutes.
> Detroit Mercy shot 48 percent to Temple's 44 percent, but the Owls drained 11 treys to the Titans' nine and also had a solid showing at the free throw line.
> Sloppy play hurt both teams as the game saw a total of 36 turnovers (19 for Detroit Mercy, 17 for Temple), but the Owls took better advantage and finished with a big lead in points off turnovers, 28-18.

Individual Highlights
> Alston's career-high 30-point effort was the first by an Owl since Quenton DeCosey scored 30 on Jan. 31, 2016.
> Junior Quinton Rose scored 17 points and sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis added 10.
> Another impressive stat line came from sophomore De'Vondre Perry with a career-high six assists and a career-high four steals to go with six points and five boards.
> Senior Ernest Aflakpui made 4-of-5 field goals for eight points and also led all players with eight rebounds.

First Half
> Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis (30 points) drained his first three shots from long range to help his team take a 13-2 lead before the Owls responded with an 11-0 run to get back in the game.
> Three ties followed, and neither team led by more than four for the rest of the half.
> Alston scored eight straight points for a 35-31 Temple lead with 2:10 left, but momentum swung back to the Titans who used a 10-2 run to lead 41-37 at the break.
> Davis led all scorers with 19 points at halftime, while Alston hit 3-of-5 from behind the arc and had a team-best 15 points for the Owls.
> The Titans hit nearly 59 percent from the field in the opening period, making 7-of-15 three-pointers (46.7 percent) while the Owls shot 44 percent overall and hit 5-of-12 from long range.

Second Half
> Near the 16-minute mark, Alston converted a rare four-point play for the Owls' first lead of the period.
> Alston's shot became part of a 21-2 run with 11 points by Rose and six by Pierre-Louis.
> By the end of the run, the Owls had a 15-point lead, 63-48. They would match that one more time before a final layup by Aflakpui put Temple up 16 for the final tally.
> The pace of play slowed down the stretch with a number of fouls committed by both teams. Twelve of the final 28 points were scored at the free throw line, with both teams making six.

Up Next
> Temple will play its third of four straight home games against Georgia on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. (ESPN3 / 1210 AM WPHT).