Men's Basketball Wins Overtime Thriller at USF, 70-69

Saturday, February 16

Tampa, Fla.

6:00 p.m.

Temple University

19-7, 9-4

USF

17-8, 7-6

OT 1

Temple

USF

Photo by: Travis Pendergrast

Men's Basketball Wins Overtime Thriller at USF, 70-69

2.16.19 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

TAMPA - Shizz Alston, Jr. scored eight of his game-high 24 points in overtime to lead Temple to a thrilling 70-69 win at USF Saturday night. Alston drained his lone three-pointer in the extra frame, extending his streak to 37 games, to give the Owls the lead for good, 68-65. He then hit two free throws in the final minute to seal the victory. Temple improves to 19-7 and 9-4 in the American Athletic Conference while USF falls to 17-8 and 7-6.

Game Summary
> Temple overcame a nine-point second half deficit (45-36) to tie the game with 40 seconds left on a three-point play by Nate Pierre-Louis.
> Alston struggled through a rough shooting game making just nine of 20 shots from the field and missing his first six three-point attempts before draining his final one in overtime.
> Two fouls in the final seconds of overtime proved to be the difference. Alston made one of two free throws with 1.5 seconds on the clock to give Temple a 70-69 lead and UCF's David Collins missed two free throws with 0.8 seconds on the clock to enable the Owls to escape with the victory.
> Temple starting center Ernest Aflakpui did not make the trip as he is sidelined with an upper right leg injury suffered during the SMU game. His status is day-to-day.
> The Owls are now a perfect 6-0 at USF and improve to 7-4 in road games this season and 9-5 away from home.
> Temple is also 4-0 in overtime games this season and 23-7 in Fran Dunphy's 13 seasons at the helm.

Individual Highlights
> Alston scored 20 or more points for the 11^th time this season while setting a season-high with seven rebounds. He also had a game-high six assists.
> Pierre-Louis was the only other Owl to reach double-figures, tallying 14 points to go along with his game-high four steals.
> De'Vondre Perry had his best offensive output since the Memphis win, tallying seven points on a perfect shooting night from the field (2-2 FG, 1-1 3pts).
> Justyn Hamilton had another fine game, scoring nine points over 22 minutes off the bench.
> Quinton Rose, who played despite being sick, had his team-best streak of 20 consecutive games scoring in double figures come to an end with an eight point night.

First Half
> Both teams struggled early with Temple holding a 7-6 lead after the first eight minutes.
> The Owls extended their lead to 16-8 over the next three minutes, part of a 14-2 run that was capped by a Quinton Rose breakaway dunk off a nice feed from Alani Moore II.
> The Bulls responded by scoring the next 10 points over a five minute stretch to take a 18-16 lead on a Xavier Castaneda jumper with 3:47 on the clock.
> After a short jumper by J.P. Moorman II tied it, USF would run off five straight points to take its largest advantage of the opening period, 23-18, with 30 seconds remaining.
> Alston closed the deficit to 23-20 at the break with a driving layup as time expired.

Second Half
> USF quickly extended its lead to eight points at the start of the half, 28-20, but the Owls went on a 10-4 run to cut the margin to two on a Hamilton layup.
> The Bulls then went on a 9-2 run propelled by two three-pointers from T.J. Lang to take their largest lead of the game, 45-36, with 9:39 left in regulation.
> Six straight Temple points, capped by a rare Alston dunk brought it back to a one-possession game, 45-42.
> After USF scored the next four points, Temple went on a 9-1 run to regain the lead, 51-50, on a Hamilton lay-in from a dish by Alston.
> Neither team could get separation over the final four minutes with the last points coming from Pierre-Louis, who drove the lane for a three-point play to tie the score at 59.

Overtime
> The Owls jumped ahead to a 64-59 lead in the extra frame as Alston made a nice put back off a Rose miss and then hit Moorman for a three-pointer on TU's next possession.
> Laquincy Rideau, who led USF with 16 points and five assists, made a lay-up to cut it to 64-61, but Alston made one of two free throws to extend the margin to two possessions.
> Collins then drained two free throws and Rideau another basket to tie the game at 65 with under two minutes to play.
> Alston then drained a three-pointer with 1:15 left and made one of two free throws on the Owls ensuing possession to make it 69-65 with 45 ticks remaining.
> USF ran off four straight points to tie it with 11 seconds to play to set up the wild finish.
> First Alston was fouled on his short jumper with 1.5 seconds remaining, and drained one of two. Collins was then fouled by Moorman at the top of the key following a long inbounds pass. A perfect six-of-six on the night, he missed both to end the game.

Up Next
> The Owls have a week off before hosting Tulsa at the Liacouras Center on Saturday, Feb. 23 (Noon/ESPNews/1210 AM WPHT). Temple will induct four new members into its Basketball Ring of Honor at halftime of that game - Howard Evans, Ed Lerner, Tim Perry and Jerry Rullo.