White, Dunn lead Men’s Basketball to 66-62 Win at UCF

Wednesday, January 5

Orlando, Fla.

7:00 PM

Temple University

8-6,1-2AAC

UCF

9-4,1-2AAC

Temple

UCF

Photo by: Conor Kvatek

White, Dunn lead Men’s Basketball to 66-62 Win at UCF

1.5.22 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Monte' Ross Interview Jahlil White Interview Damian Dunn Interview

ORLANDO – Jahlil White scored a career-high 17 points and Damian Dunn drained a three-pointer with seven seconds remaining to lift Temple to a 68-62 win over UCF Wednesday night at Addition Financial Arena. The Owls, playing without head coach Aaron McKie (Covid protocol), improve to 8-6 overall and 1-2 in the American Athletic Conference.

Associate head coach Monte' Ross filled in for McKie as the Owls' acting head coach. Temple was missing more than McKie as the Owls were again playing without two of its top players in Jake Forrester (non-covid illness) and Tai Strickland (back), who did not make the trip.

First Half
> It was a tightly contested first half that featured five ties and seven lead changes.
> Neither team was able to get any separation until the Knights ran off seven straight points to take the largest lead by either team in the period, 30-22, with 3:27 to play.
> White then scored five of his 10 points in the half and Sage Tolbert III added a putback basket to cut the deficit to one, 30-29, which is where the half would end.
> Dunn, who scored seven points early on, led all scorers in the half with 11 points.
> The Owls shot 48 percent from the field in the frame and out-rebounded the Knights, 16-14.

Second Half
> UCF opened the second half by scoring nine of the first 11 points to take a 39-31 lead and forcing a Temple timeout at 15:38.
> The Knights would push the margin to 11 points three minutes later, 44-33, on a three by Darius Perry.
> Temple would explode for a 12-0 run, turning a 48-40 deficit to a 52-48 lead. Zach Hicks hit two three-pointers in the stretch with his last being for a four-point play to close the run.
> After UCF tied it at 54, Dunn made two nice passes, first to Nick Jourdain then to Williams to put the Owls back in front, 58-54, with just under three minutes to play.
> Brandon Mahan then caught fire, draining two threes to ignite an 8-0 Knight run to put UCF back on top 62-58.
> Williams then found Hicks in the corner for his third three of the game, cutting the margin to one, 62-61, with 21.6 seconds to play.
> Jourdain then made a great defensive play, tying up Freeman at center court for a jump ball with Temple taking possession.
> Williams then found Dunn at the top of the key for a three-pointer to give Temple the lead, 64-62.
> Perry then lost the ball with 1.5 seconds on the clock and Dunn made two free throws to seal the win.

Statistically Speaking
> White made seven-of-nine from the field and grabbed five rebounds for his best game of the season.
> Dunn, who scored the final five points, added 16 points with five rebounds and three assists.
> Williams contributed 13 points and six assists while Hicks also reached double figures with 10 points.
> Perry led the Knights with 14 points.

Next Up
> Temple returns home to host ECU Saturday (2 pm/ESPN+/1210 AM WPHT).