Men’s Basketball Closes Regular Season with 83-82 Loss at Tulane

Sunday, March 5

New Orleans, La.

2:00 P.M.

Temple University

16-15,10-8AAC

Tulane

19-10,12-6AAC

Temple

Tulane

Photo by: Paige Wisehaupt

Men’s Basketball Closes Regular Season with 83-82 Loss at Tulane

3.5.23 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS – In a battle for third place in the American Athletic Conference, Damian Dunn led five Temple double-figure scorers with 21 points, but the Owls dropped a nail-biter to Tulane, 83-82, Sunday at Fogelman Arena. The loss drops Temple to 16-15 overall and 10-8 in the AAC. Tulane improves to 19-10, 12-6.

Joining Dunn in double figures was Jamille Reynolds (17), Jahlil White (14), Zach Hicks (13) and Nick Jourdain (10). Jalen Cook led the Green Wave with a game-high 24 points.

First Half
> Temple scored the first four points to open the contest, before Tulane answered with a 16-4 run to take an eight-point lead (16-8) and forcing an Owls' timeout.
> The Green Wave would push the lead to double figures, 21-9, on a three by Collin Holloway before the Owls scored 10 of the next 13 points with Hicks and Miller both hitting threes to cut the deficit to five, 24-19.
> Tulane answered with an 11-4 run, with Cook scoring the final seven for the Green Wave, to push its lead back to a dozen, 35-23, with 4:18 to play.
> Consecutive baskets by Sion James pushed the Tulane lead to 15 (44-29). The Owls then closed the half with a three by Jourdain and a putback by Reynolds at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 44-34 at intermission.
> The Green Wave shot a blistering 57 percent (17-of-30, 5-of-9 3pt) from the field while the Owls made just 38 percent overall (12-of-32) and a dismal 19 percent (3-of-16) from behind the arc.

Second Half
> Tulane opened its biggest lead, 59-43, following consecutive threes by Cook.
> Temple was not going away as the Owls used a 13-3 run to cut the deficit back to six, 62-56.
> The Owls would cut it to five, 69-64, on a turnaround jumper by Dunn, but Forbes answered with a long three for the Green Wave.
> Two minutes later, the game got heated with a technical assessed to both teams and players being separated following a White miss.
> The Owls would then cut the deficit to three on free throws from White and a Reynolds layup to make it 76-73 with 4:03 remaining.
> Following two Cross free throws to put the Green Wave ahead 81-76 with 1:32 to play, Hicks made a jumper in the lane and Dunn was then fouled on a three. He made one of the free throws, but Kur Jongkuch grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it back to Dunn who drained a corner three for an 82-81 Temple lead with 33 seconds left.
> R.J. McGee made two free throws on the next possession to give Tulane an 83-82 lead with 14 seconds left.
> On the Owls final possession, Sion James blocked White's attempt at the buzzer to seal the victory for Tulane.

Game Notes
> It was the 500^th career win for Tulane coach Ron Hunter.
> The Owls outrebounded the Green Wave, 38-32, and had just 10 turnovers in the game.
> Reynolds had a career high five blocks in the game, the most by an Owl this season.

Next Up
> Temple opens play in the American Athletic Conference Tournament Friday as the 5th-seeded Owls take on 4th-seed Cincinnati at 3 p.m. at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.