Big Start, Balanced Attack Leads Men’s Basketball to Second Win

NASSAU, The Bahamas – After a thrilling come-from-behind win Saturday, the Temple men's basketball team ran away from the IBA Select team early and never let up in a 94-67 win. The Owls led 36-7 after the first quarter and extended the margin to 40 points, 59-19, at the break.
How it Happened

Coach Aaron McKie decided to utilize his inside game early, feeding junior Justyn Hamilton early. Hamilton, who tied for team scoring honors with 13 points, tallied nine in the first five minutes to help lift the Owls to a 20-5 lead.
Senior Damion Moore followed that with five points over the final five minutes of the quarter to extend the margin to 29 points.
Temple was firing on all cylinders, using a fluid offense (14-21 FGs, 4-8 3pts) and an aggressive defense to all but put the game away after the first 10 minutes
McKie inserted transfers Tai Strickland and Jake Forester in the second quarter and both made impacts. Strickland, who matched Hamilton for team scoring honors (13), drained a trio of three-pointers over a three-minute stretch to make it 48-35.
The bench cleared with 2:52 remaining and redshirt freshman Arashma Parks quickly made his mark with a bucket. Junior Tim Waddington connected on a three-pointer and was followed by baskets by fellow walk-ons Anto Keshgegian and Jasen West.
All 16 Owls had scored before the break.
The remainder of the game Temple used its reserves to hold the Bahamian team at bay, resting starters Quinton Rose (9 minutes) and Nate Pierre-Louis (5 minutes) for Tuesday's final game.

Statistically Speaking

Joining Hamilton and Strickland in double figures was Waddington with 12 points. Monty Scott added nine points while Damion Dunn was a perfect on four field goal attempts for eight points.
Forrester led the team with eight rebounds while Hamilton added seven.
Keshgegian, who celebrated his 22^nd birthday, had career bests with six points and six rebounds.
De'Vondre Perry and Scott tied for team honors in assists with four each.
Only two Temple players, Scott (23 minutes) and Strickland (21) topped the 20 minute mark.
Temple had 50 points in the paint compared to 22 for IBA while the Owls out-rebounded the hosts, 65-40.

Quotable

"We had a size advantage on those guys and we wanted to take full advantage of it. So we put an emphasis on dumping the ball inside. Justyn Hamilton got us off to a really good start and we defended really well. We got the ball off the rim and we just tried to get out in transition as much as possible. We wanted to put those guys on their heels, play fast and attack them and get to the free throw line. I thought our guys got us off to a really good start." – Aaron McKie

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