Turnovers Plague Men's Basketball in 78-72 Loss to St. John's

Monday, November 21

Brooklyn, N.Y.

9:30 PM

Temple University

2-3,0-0AAC

St. John's

5-0,0-0Big East

St. John's (NY)

Temple

Photo by: Robin Hsiao

Turnovers Plague Men's Basketball in 78-72 Loss to St. John's

11.21.22 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BROOKLYN - In a battle of two of the winningest programs at the NCAA Division I level, St. John's overcame a slow start and forced 21 Temple turnovers to defeat the Owls, 78-72, at the Barclays Center in the semifinals of the Empire Classic.

Jamille Reynolds scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Owls with Khalif Battle (17), Damian Dunn (11) and Zach Hicks (11) also tallying double figures. Montez Mathis led four St. John's double figure scorers with 16.

First Half
> The Owls jumped out to an early lead with their stifling defense holding the Red Storm to 4-of-18 shooting to build a 15-10 advantage by the midway point of the half.
> Temple pushed the margin to 19-10 with Battle making a driving layup for his tenth point of the half.
> The Owls pushed the advantage to a dozen, 22-10, on a Dunn three that capped a 10-0 run. Andre Curbelo hit a mid-range jumper to make it 22-12.
> Following a three by Reynolds that put Temple ahead by 13 (25-12), the Owls went cold from the field. St. John's took advantage, climbing back into the game on the strength of an 8-0 run. Posh Alexander's layup off a Temple turnover made it 25-20 with just under four minutes on the clock.
> Battle drained a three following a Temple timeout to make it 28-20, but St. John's stayed hot and closed the half on a 12-2 run to take a 32-30 lead into the break.
> Joel Soriano scored six of his 10 first half points in the run to lead the Red Storm.
> Temple had 13 turnovers in the half with St. John's making nine steals.

Second Half
> The Owls started the second half feeding the post with Reynolds scoring 10 of the team's first 12 points. St. John's answered, with the lead going back and forth over the first five minutes.
> The Red Storm pushed the margin to eight, 50-42, with nine straight points capped by a Mathis driving layup.
> A three-point play by Nick Jourdain and two free throws by Dunn brought the contest to a one-posession game, 50-47.
> Two minutes later Reynolds checked back into the game and scored four quick points to cut the margin to two, 53-51, with 9:23 to play.
> St. John's scored two quick baskets to bring the margin back to six, 57-51, forcing a Temple timeout.
> The Owls returned with two quick baskets and Dunn made one of two free throws to cut it to one 59-58.
> St. John's answered with seven quick points to push the lead to eight, 66-58.
> The Owls climbed back in with seven straight points, the last a jumper by Battle, to tie the game at 68 with 2:19 on the clock.
> A basket by Mathis with gave the Red Storm the lead, 70-68, while Jahlil White made one of two free throws to cut it to one point.
> After Dunn flicked the ball off a St. John's player to cause a turnover, Hysier Miller found Hicks in the left corner for a three to put Temple back on top, 72-70, with 1:29 remaining.
> Curbelo then scored five straight and Mathis added two free throws to lift St. John's to the win.

Next Up
> Temple will close out the Empire Classic against Richmond on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.