Men’s Basketball Wins Third Straight, Downing South Florida, 79-76, in Overtime

Wednesday, January 25

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 P.M.

Temple University

13-9,7-2AAC

South Florida

9-12,2-6AAC

OT 1

South Fla.

Temple

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Men’s Basketball Wins Third Straight, Downing South Florida, 79-76, in Overtime

1.25.23 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Khalif Battle led all scorers with 25 points, including seven of Temple's nine overtime points, as the Owls extended its win streak to three straight with a 79-76 OT win over South Florida Wednesday at the Liacouras Center. Temple improves to 13-9, 7-2 in the American Athletic Conference while South Florida falls to 9-12, 2-6.

Battle, who was nine-of-18 from the field and three-of-six from long range, also assisted on Nick Jourdain's go-ahead dunk with 48 seconds on the clock that game Temple the lead for good, 77-76.

Damian Dunn added 15 points while Jourdain added 11. Corey Walker, Jr. led South Florida with 21.

First Half
> It was an evenly played first half with neither team leading by more than five points in the period.
> There were six ties and four lead changes with South Florida's Tyler Harris draining a three with two seconds left to make it 34-34 at the break.
> Both teams shot 43 percent from the field with Temple turning the ball over 10 times to South Florida's nine.
> Jamille Reynolds returned to action for the first time after a 10-game absence due to having thumb surgery on December 14.
> Hysier Miller led the Owls with nine points while Keyshawn Bryant topped all scorers with 10 points in just eight minutes of action.

Second Half
> The Owls started the second half red hot, making six-of-11 from the field, with a three by Dunn capping a 17-11 start to take a 51-45 lead.
> Two minutes later Battle drained a three and a deep two to extend the Owls lead to nine, 60-51.
> After pushing the lead to double figures, 65-55, with 7:46 to play, the Bulls ran off six straight points to cut the margin to four, 65-61, with just under five to play.
> Following a Temple timeout, the Bulls would take advantage of an Owls turnover and make it a two-point game on a Bryant jumper, 65-63.
> Battle then drained a three from the top of the key, but Tchewa made a layup to again make it a one-possession game, 68-65.
> Then a Tchewa basket and a three-point play sandwiched a Battle long two, tying the game at 70 with 1:42 to play.
> Neither team could score the remainder of regulation with a Dunn 30 footer at the buzzer hitting the front of the rim.

Overtime
> Battle scored five quick points to give Temple a 75-70 lead.
> The Bulls answered with six straight, the last on a Bryant free throw to make it 76-75 with 1:06 on the clock.
> Battle then fed a cutting Nick Jourdain for a monster slam, giving Temple a 77-76 advantage with 49.1 seconds to play.
> Battle then made two free throws following a Bulls miss, putting the Owls ahead 79-76 with 21 seconds to play.
> South Florida turned the ball over with nine seconds left, but Dunn was called for being out of bounds on the inbounds play to give the ball back to the Bulls.
> Tyler Harris then missed a three to end the game.
> Reynolds played 18 minutes off the bench and had two points, three rebounds and three assists.

Statistically Speaking
> In his return to the court, Reynolds
> It was Miller's first double figure game since the Owls meeting at South Florida when he tallied 13 points.
> Jongkuch, Jahlil White and Dunn led Temple in rebounding with seven each as the Owls won the battle of the boards, 41-39.

Next Up
> Temple travels to UCF Saturday for a nationally televised contest (12 pm/ESPNU/1210 AM WPHT).