Temple Knocks Off Big 5 Rival La Salle at Home

Tuesday, November 11

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 PM

Temple University

2-0,0-0American

La Salle

2-1,0-0Atlantic 10

La Salle

Temple

Temple Knocks Off Big 5 Rival La Salle at Home

11.11.25 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Adam Fisher Press Conference Aiden Tobiason and Derrian Ford Press Conference

PHILADELPHIA – Temple men's basketball (2-0, 0-0 AMER) defeated the La Salle Explorers (2-1, 0-0 A10) 90-63 to kick off 2025 Big 5 Play in front of a crowd of 3,108 at the Liacouras Center.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After a 7-7 start, the Owls found their rhythm courtesy of a 14-2 run. Temple shot 5-7 from deep through this spurt, with Aiden Tobiason leading the way with a quick 11 points.
The Owls would quickly pull away in the first frame, with Derrian Ford making crucial contributions to push the Temple lead to 13 at the half.
Temple would pick up right where it left off in the second half. Gavin Griffiths made two highlight plays, including a key block and dunk to elevate the Owl lead to 19 points by the first media timeout of the period.
This pace would continue, with the Owls going on a 21-7 run through eight minutes of play. The Cherry & White defense was suffocating, containing the Explorer offense to just 2-14 from the field during this stretch.
Ford surged in the second half, leading in scoring en route to a season-high of 22.
The Owls held this advantage for the remainder of the contest, leading by as much as 35 to secure their second win of the season by a score of 90-63.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

With tonight's win, the Owls remain undefeated at home in this format of Big 5 play. Temple defeated La Salle in 2023 at the Liacouras Center in the first home contest of this version of Big 5 Play. Last season, the Owls topped the Drexel Dragons at home 69-61.
The game started off fast for Aiden Tobiason. The sophomore guard came out firing from deep and knocked down three straight three-point shots. He finished the night with 16 points.
Connor Gal, Cam Wallace, and Jamai Felt each scored their first points as an Owl in the second half of play.
As a team, Temple finished with 20 assists, the most since the 2022-23 season in a contest against Tulsa.
Derrian Ford finishes his night with 22 points, one point shy of a career-high he set as a member of Arkansas State last season.
La Salle entered the day 15th in the country in long-range defense from beyond the arc. The Explorers were only allowing 19.1% shooting from three-point range, until tonight. The Owls were able to shoot 50% from downtown.
The Owls outrebounded a pesky La Salle team all night. Temple finished the evening with 44 boards opposed to La Salle's 29.
Temple shot 50% from the field, shot 50% from three, and had at least 20 assists all in the same game for the first time since 2017.

UP NEXT

The Owls will remain home for another non-conference contest, this time playing host to the Eagles of Boston College on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2:00 pm. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be listened to at www.owlsports.com/listen.