Men's Basketball Loses Hard-Fought Contest to #11/14 Wichita State in AAC Quarterfinals

Friday, March 9

Orlando, Fla.

7:00 p.m.

Temple University

18-15

Wichita State (AAC Quarterfinals)

25-6

Temple

Wichita State

Photo by: Ben Solomon/American Athletic Conference

Men's Basketball Loses Hard-Fought Contest to #11/14 Wichita State in AAC Quarterfinals

3.9.18 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

ORLANDO - It was a fight all game long and nearly a career performance for sophomore Quinton Rose, but seventh-seeded Temple men's basketball came up short in an 89-81 loss to second-seeded and #11/14 Wichita State (25-6) in the Aaron's American Athletic Conference Championship quarterfinals. Rose, who finished with 25 points, kept the Owls (17-15) in the game for most of the second half, but they could never get a tie or a lead on the Shockers.

Keys to the Game
> Temple kept the game within three possessions for nearly the entire contest, and was usually within one or two.
> The Owls' largest deficit was 12 points with just under five minutes remaining, but they battled again with an 11-2 run to make it a three-point game at 2:23.
> Over those final two minutes, the Shockers made 11-of-16 free throws to hold off Temple, who made three field goals before missing its final three attempts.
> Foul trouble and rebounding were both problem areas for the Owls, who had their post players pick up early fouls and lost the battle of the boards by a margin of 35-24.
> Temple shot well most of the game, finishing at 51 percent to Wichita State's 48 percent and hitting 11-of-24 three-pointers.

Individual Highlights
> Rose scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, at one point scoring 14 of 16 points for the Owls.
> Senior Josh Brown and junior Shizz Alston, Jr. scored 15 points each, with Alston hitting 4-of-8 from long range and Brown draining 3-of-4.
> Wichita State's Landry Shamet led his team with 24 points and made six of eight three-point attempts.

First Half
> Temple never led or tied the game in the opening frame, but also never trailed by more than nine.
> The Owls' three-point shooting kept them in the game throughout the half, as they drained 7-of-12 from long range (58.3 percent), getting two apiece from Alston and Brown.
> Three post players for Temple got in early foul trouble, with Obi Enechionyia, De'Vondre Perry and Damion Moore all picking up two fouls in the first nine minutes.
> With 9:32 left in the half, the Shockers got their largest lead of nine, 25-16, but it lasted less than 30 seconds as Brown soon drilled a three, starting a 10-2 run for the Owls.
> Capped by an Ernest Aflakpui layup at 6:36, the run got Temple within in a point, 27-26.
> It was no more than a two-possession game the rest of the half, and the Owls were back within one with 1:51 to go, but the Shockers scored the final five points including a very long range three-pointer at the buzzer by Shamet to take a 42-36 lead into the break.

Second Half
> Just under three minutes in, the Owls got it back to a one-point game on a pair of Brown free throws after a flagrant foul on Wichita State.
> The Shockers answered with an 11-2 run, taking their first double-digit lead of 10 points, 55-45 at 13:43 as Temple went over four minutes without a field goal.
> Rose then took over the game for the Owls, scoring 14 of their next 16 points in a four-minute stretch and getting Temple within two on three occasions.
> After freshman J.P. Moorman II made it a two-point game for a fourth time in the half, the Shockers used a 13-3 run for their largest lead of 12, 76-64 at 4:38.
> The Owls had one big run left in them to get back within three just two minutes later, but Wichita State sealed the deal at the stripe.

Quotable
> "We had three close games against Wichita State and I thought we played well in each of them. They're a really good basketball team and a really good basketball program...I thought our guys did a really good job and I'm proud of them and I'm proud of how hard they played. I'm proud they had no 'give up' in them. We had our chances but we needed to make another shot or get a better rebound and we needed to get that loose ball...But I'm proud of our guys." - Temple head coach Fran Dunphy

Next Up
> Temple must now wait to see if it receives an invitation to the NIT, with the bracket being announced on Sunday, March 11 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU.