Men's Basketball Blows Past UCF for 75-56 Senior Day Win

Sunday, February 25

Liacouras Center

2:00 p.m.

Temple University

16-12, 8-8

UCF

17-11, 8-8

UCF

Temple

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Men's Basketball Blows Past UCF for 75-56 Senior Day Win

2.25.18 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Video Highlights Players Post-UCF Press Conference Steve Leonard Post-UCF Press Conference Fran Dunphy Post-UCF Press Conference

PHILADELPHIA - With a huge opening run, Temple men's basketball got its offense going early and kept it up all game long in a 75-56 win over UCF (17-11, 8-8) in its last regular season home game. The Owls (16-12, 8-8) celebrated their three seniors for Senior Day, and sent them out in style with some of their best shooting of the season.

Keys to the Game
> Temple set the tone early, exploding out of the gate for a 16-0 lead, and led by at least 10 for the final 30 minutes of the contest.
> It was the Owls' Senior Day, and it was senior Steve Leonard who scored the first six points on his first two career three-pointers in his first career start.
> The Owls, 11th in the American Athletic Conference in rebounding heading into the game, posted a 40-27 edge on the glass.
> Although UCF attempted 30 free throws to Temple's 10 (making 19 to the Owls' eight), Temple absolutely dominated from the floor with 29 field goals to UCF's 16.
> The Owls' largest lead of 25 points with seven minutes left was just three points off their largest lead of the season.

Individual Highlights
> Sophomore Quinton Rose scored a game-high 19 points, with 12 of those coming in the second half. He also dished five assists and grabbed five boards.
> Junior Shizz Alston, Jr. scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting and led all players with six assists.
> Also reaching double figures in scoring was freshman Nate Pierre-Louis, who came off the bench for 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
> Freshman J.P. Moorman II grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, becoming the first Temple freshman with multiple double-digit rebound efforts since Keith Butler in 2002-03.
> Also making an impact off the bench was sophomore Damion Moore with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting.

First Half
> Leonard set the tone early, scoring his first career three-pointers back-to-back, and senior Obi Enechionyia added a third.
> By the time the opening run was over, the Owls led 16-0 at the 13-minute mark after making four of their first seven three-pointers.
> Temple held UCF without a point until 12:39, and led by no fewer than 10 points for the final 9:46 of the half.
> Seven different Owls scored in the opening period, and Temple out-shot UCF 46.4 percent to 25 percent from the field.
> The Owls lead at halftime was 33-20, just three off their largest lead of the half.

Second Half
> Temple kept up its pace, getting six early points from Ernest Aflakpui and never letting the Knights cut the margin to single digits.
> An impressive dunk from Rose thanks to an equally impressive pass from Pierre-Louis was part of a 10-0 run for the Owls that put them up by 21 points, 49-28 at 13:31.
> Rose completed an old-fashioned three-point play at 7:05 for a 25-point lead, 65-40, which was the Owls' largest lead of the contest.
> UCF scored seven straight in the final minutes, but came no closer than 17 points.

Up Next
> Temple will play its final two regular season games on the road, first facing UConn at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28 (CBSSN / 1210 AM WPHT).