Men's Basketball Loses 80-74 to Wichita State in AAC Quarterfinals

Friday, March 15

Memphis, Tenn.

9:00 p.m.

Temple University

23-9

Wichita State (AAC Quarterfinals)

19-13

Wichita St.

Temple

Photo by: Ben Solomon/American Athletic Conference

Men's Basketball Loses 80-74 to Wichita State in AAC Quarterfinals

3.16.19 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The offense went missing when Temple needed it most and the third-seeded Owls (23-9) suffered an 80-74 loss to sixth-seeded Wichita State (19-13) in the 2019 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Championships quarterfinals at FedEx Forum. Temple and head coach Fran Dunphy, in his final season with the Owls, will have to wait two days to find out if the season will continue in the NCAA Tournament.

Game Summary
> Over three 4-5 minute stretches at various times of the game, Temple was scoreless or made only free throws. The third of those came to close out the game as the Owls missed their final five field-goal attempts.
> Temple led for most of the first half and early in the second, but after the third tie of the second half with 11:48 remaining, Wichita State took the lead for good.
> The Shockers hit 22-of-24 (92 percent) from the free-throw line and got a 34-point outing from senior Marcus McDuffie.

Individual Highlights
> Senior Ernest Aflakpui dominated on the boards, grabbing a career-high 19 rebounds to go with 16 points for his fourth double-double of the season. Ten of Aflakpui's rebounds came on the offensive glass.
> The Owls' scoring leader was Shizz Alston, Jr. with 20 points, while junior Quinton Rose added 17 points, six rebounds and three steals.
> Sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis also finished in double figures in scoring with 11 points.

First Half
> Temple's two seniors combined for 28 of the Owls' 37 first-half points, with Aflakpui reaching his double-double with over three minutes remaining.
> The Owls jumped out to a 6-0 lead but the Shockers tied it quickly and there would be four more ties in the period but only two brief one-point leads for WSU.
> Trailing 26-25, Temple held Wichita State scoreless for nearly four minutes and used an 8-0 run capped by an Alston three-pointer for a 33-26 lead with 4:26 remaining.
> The seven-point lead was Temple's largest, but a lone Justyn Hamilton free throw would be the only point the Owls scored the rest of the way until right before the buzzer.
> Meanwhile, the Shockers went on a 7-0 run for their second one-point lead of the half, 35-34 with 23 seconds to go
> Alston held for the last shot of the period and drained a pull-up shot from long range to put Temple back up at the break, 37-35. He had 18 points to lead all players at halftime.

Second Half
> After two early ties, the lead changed hands four times. Sophomore De'Vondre Perry drained a three-pointer at 12:10 for a 56-54 Temple lead, but the Shockers tied it back up 20 seconds later.
> Wichita State went on to make it an 11-0 run as the Owls were scoreless for nearly five and a half minutes.
> The Shockers led by as many as nine, 65-56 before Rose got the Owls back within four at 6:16.
> Temple kept it within two possessions for most of the last four minutes, but could not close the gap.
> Rose made two free throws with 1:40 remaining to put the Owls down just 73-71, but Wichita State answered with four straight points and held the Owls at least that far back for the remaining time.

Next Up
> Temple will await its postseason fate, either with the NCAA Selection Show or the NIT bracket released afterward.