Men’s Basketball Late Rally Comes Up Short at Tulsa, 72-66

Tuesday, February 16

Tulsa, OK

7:00 P.M.

Temple University

4-9,3-9AAC

Tulsa

10-9,7-7AAC

Temple

Tulsa

Photo by: Darryl Turner

Men’s Basketball Late Rally Comes Up Short at Tulsa, 72-66

2.16.21 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Khalif Battle Postgame Interview Aaron McKie Postgame Interview

TULSA, Okla. – Trailing 58-40 with 7:45 remaining, Temple stormed back to cut the margin to five, but its rally fell short as Tulsa held on for a 72-66 win at the Reynolds Center Tuesday night. The Owls fall to 4-9, 3-9 in the American, while the Golden Hurricane improve to 10-9, 7-7 AAC.

Sophomore transfer Khalif Battle, who made his first start of the season in place of the injured Damian Dunn (left knee), led all scorers with 21 points. Jeremiah Williams and Jake Forrester also tallied double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Elijah Joiner led Tulsa with 17 points.

Recapping the Game
First Half
> Battle started off on the right foot in his debut in the starting five, draining a three for the first basket of the game.
> Battle would go on to score the first eight points for the Owls with the teams trading baskets over the first nine minutes.
> A Darrien Jackson layup with 10:07 on the clock gave Tulsa the first two-possession advantage of the game, 14-10.
> That was part of a 9-2 run which allowed the Golden Hurricane to take a 17-12 lead. Temple had an uncharacteristic eight turnovers in the four-and-a-half-minute stretch that finally ended with two Forrester free throws.
> After Tulsa opened a six-point lead, 22-16, the Owls cut it back to two on a pair Battle free throws followed by a reverse layup by Williams.
> Tulsa then closed the final three minutes on an 8-2 run, capped by a Keyshawn Embery-Simpson three in the final seconds to take its largest lead of the half, 30-22.

Second Half
> The Owls quickly brought the game back to one possession by scoring seven of the first nine points after intermission. Quincy Ademokoya capped the run with a three-point play, drawing the fourth personal on Tulsa big man Ray Idowu in the process.
> As Temple closed the score to 36-33 on a nice slam by Nick Jourdain off a Williams feed, Tulsa answered with 10 straight points, six on Jackson layups, to take a 46-33 advantage.
> Barry drained a three-pointer to end the three-minute drought for the Owls at the 12:45 mark.
> Tulsa then extended its lead with a 12-4 run to take a 58-40 lead with just under eight minutes remaining.
> Temple climbed back with a run of its own, scoring 15 of the next 19 points to cut it to 62-55 with 3:28 to play. Ademokoya drained two threes in the stretch.
> The Owls continued their pressure, cutting the margin to five, 68-63, with 58.8 seconds left on a Barry steal that led to a Battle layup.
> Tulsa then hit four straight free throws following Temple missed threes to seal the game.

Statistically Speaking
> Tonight's game was the first change to the starting lineup all season for the Owls.
> Temple committed 19 turnovers, 13 coming in the first half which led to 19 Tulsa points. The Golden Hurricane only had seven miscues.
> Ademokoya had a season-high nine points while Jourdain matched his season-best (4 pts) while playing a high of 18 minutes.

Next Up
> Temple has a week off before hosting USF at The Liacouras Center on Feb. 24 (7pm/ESPNU/1210 AM WPHT).