Late Run Lifts Penn State over Temple in NIT First Round, 63-57

Wednesday, March 14

University Park, Pa.

8:00 p.m.

Temple University

17-16

Penn State (NIT First Round)

22-13

Temple

Penn State

Late Run Lifts Penn State over Temple in NIT First Round, 63-57

3.14.18 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Temple men's basketball led most of the game and still by six points with four minutes remaining, but Penn State (22-13) closed out with a 15-3 run to beat the Owls 63-57 in the NIT First Round. Temple's free throw shooting and foul trouble cost the Owls in the end, as they finish the season at 17-16 overall.

Keys to the Game
> Penn State attempted more than twice as many free throws as Temple, going 20-for-30 from the stripe, while the Owls shot just 35.7 percent from the line (5-of-14), their second-worst outing of the season.
> Six Temple players finished with three or more fouls, and the Nittany Lions made 11 straight free throws over one stretch of the third quarter.
> The NIT implemented experimental rules including four quarters instead of two halves, and a three-point line that was almost two feet beyond the standard one. Temple hit just 4-of-18 threes, while the Lions fared slightly better at 7-for-20.
> The Owls led for over 35 minutes of game time, with PSU leading only in the opening and closing minutes of the contest.
> Temple held Penn State's leading scorer Tony Carr (19.9 ppg) to just two points, but the Lions got 17 points from Josh Reaves who made 4-of-6 from long range

Individual Highlights
> Shizz Alston, Jr. led Temple with 15 points, going 6-of-13 from the field and tying Josh Brown for team-high honors with four assists.
> Brown scored 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting and also grabbed six boards.
> The game's rebounding leader was Temple's Ernest Aflakpui, who pulled down a career-high 12 boards.
> Quinton Rose closed out the season with an 11-point effort, his 12th double-figure scoring performance in the final 13 games.

First Quarter
> After a slow start by both teams, Temple trailed 4-3 at 6:48 of the opening period.
> Brown made buckets to start and end a 10-0 run gave the Owls a nine-point, 13-4 advantage at 3:16.
> Obi Enechionyia drained a three-pointer during the run, becoming the eighth player all-time in program history to make 200 career threes.
> Temple still led by nine with a minute to go, but the Lions closed out the quarter with five points to cut the Owls' lead to 16-12.

Second Quarter
> Both teams suffered a scoring drought of over four minutes early in the quarter before a Penn State three-pointer got things going and made it a two-point game, 21-19 Temple at 4:37.
> Just like in the first quarter, the Owls used a run to pull away, scoring eight straight for their largest lead of 10, 29-19 with 1:40 left.
> Unfortunately for Temple, the second quarter ended the same as the first as well, with five straight points for PSU. The Owls' lead at halftime was just five, 29-24.
> Temple's strong defensive efforts included holding PSU's leading scorer Tony Carr (19.9 ppg) without a single first-half point, and only three players did score for the Lions in the first two quarters.

Third Quarter
> Temple started 3-for-3 from the field to go back up by 10 early in the third quarter, and Rose later scored back-to-back buckets for the Owls' largest lead of 11, 44-33 at 3:50.
> Foul trouble on Temple led to 11 straight Penn State points at the free throw line, which got the Nittany Lions back within four on two occasions.
> The final minute saw only the last two of the 11 PSU free throws, putting the Owls' lead at just 48-44 heading into the final quarter.

Fourth Quarter
> The Owls' lead fluctuated between four and six for the first six minutes before Penn State began its closing run.
> The Lions hit 4-of-4 shots to start their final scoring spurt, including three treys.
> Temple's only points in the final four minutes came on a three-pointer by Rose with 10 seconds left to make it a five-point deficit, but the Owls could get no closer.