Men's Basketball Gets 10th Win in 82-64 Defeat of Drexel at the Palestra

Saturday, December 22

The Palestra

1:00 p.m.

Temple University

10-2

Drexel

6-8

Temple

Drexel

Photo by: Mike Sperando

Men's Basketball Gets 10th Win in 82-64 Defeat of Drexel at the Palestra

12.22.18 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery Box Score

PHILADELPHIA (Palestra) - Senior Shizz Alston, Jr. and sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis scored 25 and 22 points, respectively, to lead Temple men's basketball to an 82-64 win over city rival Drexel (6-7) at the Palestra in the Owls' final game before starting conference play. Junior Quinton Rose added 14 points for Temple (10-2), needing only three of those to reach the 1,000 point plateau for his career.

Game Summary
> In his 13th and final season at Temple after 17 season at Penn, the game marked the final one at the Palestra for head coach Fran Dunphy, who received a standing ovation from the entire crowd for three minutes prior to tip-off.
> Temple took the lead for good with 13 and a half minutes left in the first period, and closed the half on a 10-2 run for a 41-30 lead at the break.
> The Owls forced 16 Drexel turnovers while committing just eight, finishing with a 27-2 lead in points off turnovers.
> With another 41-point effort in the second half, Temple stayed comfortably in the lead and used a 9-2 run in the latter part of the period to really pull away from the Dragons.

Individual Highlights
> Pierre-Louis' 22 points are a season high, and he hit 9-of-11 from the field. He came just one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with nine.
> Senior Ernest Aflakpui notched his first double-double of the season with a game-high 11 rebounds to go with 10 points.
> En route to his game-high 25 points, Alston hit 5-of-10 from long range. He also recorded a game-best three steals.
> Rose became the 54th player in program history to score 1,000 points, doing so in just his junior season. He finished with 14 points in the game.

First Half
> After a back-and-forth first few minutes, the game saw its first and only tie at 13-13 with 13:51 left in the opening period.
> Pierre-Louis broke the tie with a driving layup on the Owls' next possession, and Temple never trailed again in the game.
> Temple led by just three near the three-minute mark, but used a 10-2 run capped by a halfcourt Pierre-Louis buzzer beater to take an 11-point, 41-30 lead at halftime.
> With 14 points, Pierre-Louis led all players at the break, while Alston had hit 3-of-6 from long range and scored 13 first-half points.

Second Half
> Drexel had a quick 7-0 run to come within six points, 60-54 with 8:34 remaining, but the Owls did not allow the Dragons to get any closer.
> A 16-4 run by Temple followed the short Drexel run, putting the Owls up 76-58 with 4:18 to go.
> The 18-point lead was Temple's largest, and they matched it twice more, including on a J.P. Moorman II jumper with 12 seconds left for the final tally.

Up Next
> The Owls will take a break for the holidays, returning to action in their American Athletic Conference opener at UCF at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 2 (ESPNews / 1210 AM WPHT).