Owls Take Down North Texas, Head to AAC Championships on Three-Game Streak

Sunday, March 9

Philadelphia, Pa.

2:00 P.M.

Temple University

17-14,9-9AAC

North Texas

23-7,14-4AAC

North Texas

Temple

Photo by: Joshua Kanner

Owls Take Down North Texas, Head to AAC Championships on Three-Game Streak

3.9.25 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Temple earns the No. 7 seed in the AAC Championships and will play No. 10 seed Tulsa on Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU

PHILADELPHIA – The Temple University men's basketball team led for more than 37 minutes Sunday afternoon at the Liacouras Center and clung to a late lead, defeating North Texas 66-61 in the regular-season finale.

The Owls (17-14, 9-9 AAC) head to the AAC Championships riding a three-game winning streak. The Mean Green (23-7, 14-4 AAC) saw their conference-best seven-game win streak snapped in the regular-season finale.

Temple earns the No. 7 seed in the upcoming conference tournament and will face No. 10 seed Tulsa on Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU and ESPN+ in the second round.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After North Texas opened the scoring, Temple seized momentum with a 10-0 run to take a 10-2 advantage. Matteo Picarelli knocked down two early 3-pointers, while the Owl defense forced stops on six of the Mean Green's first seven possessions.
North Texas cut the deficit to six before the Cherry and White pushed the lead back to double digits, maintaining at least a two-possession advantage for the remainder of the first half.
Holding a 28-21 edge with less than five minutes left in the opening half, Temple extended its lead to 13 following three free throws from Picarelli and a triple by Steve Settle III. UNT scored the final three points of the half, and the Owls took a 34-24 lead into intermission.
Temple opened the second half by scoring the first five points to grab a 39-24 lead, forcing a Mean Green timeout. North Texas responded with seven straight points to trim it to 39-31, but the Owls countered with an 8-3 spurt to rebuild a 13-point cushion with under 13 minutes remaining.
The Mean Green gradually chipped away, scoring 18 of the next 28 points to make it 57-52 with three minutes to go. A Shane Dezonie basket lifted the Owls to a 59-52 advantage, but North Texas narrowed the gap to a single point at 60-59 with just over a minute left.
On his senior day, Dezonie pushed Temple's lead back to three with a layup following a crucial offensive board by Zion Stanford. A pair of North Texas free throws made it 62-61 with less than 30 seconds remaining, but Temple got a critical defensive stop, and Settle III and Quante Berry iced the game at the line in the 66-61 victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Steve Settle III led the Owls with 15 points and added five rebounds. Zion Stanford totaled 14 points, matched the team high with seven boards and dished four assists.
Elijah Gray contributed 12 points on an efficient 4-for-6 shooting performance off the bench.
Seniors Matteo Picarelli (10 points), Shane Dezonie (9 points) and Settle III combined for 34 points and eight rebounds. They shot 11-for-19 from the floor, 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and 8-for-10 from the free-throw line.
The Owls' defense rose to the occasion, holding North Texas to its lowest 3-point percentage of the season (2-for-12, .167) and its second-lowest field-goal percentage in AAC play (20-for-52, .385). The Mean Green came into the game ranked fourth in field-goal percentage and second in 3-point shooting percentage in the conference.
For the third straight contest, Temple won the rebounding battle, finishing with a 34-23 edge on the glass. The Owls have outrebounded opponents 108-82 during their three-game winning streak, with Stanford (7.3 rpg), Settle III (6.5 rpg), Babatunde Durodola (5.7 rpg) and Dezonie (5.5 rpg in two games) leading the effort.
With the win, Temple became the only AAC team this season to defeat both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the conference. The Owls took down then-No. 18 Memphis (26-5, 16-2 AAC) on Jan. 16 and topped North Texas (23-7, 14-4 AAC) on Sunday at the Liacouras Center.
Temple finished 12-2 at the Liacouras Center, its most home victories since going 13-2 in 2018-19.
Against every AAC foe it faced twice this season, Temple split all six series (Memphis, East Carolina, Charlotte, South Florida, Tulsa and North Texas). Five of the Owls' six wins in those matchups came at home, with Tulsa as the lone exception.

THANK YOU, SENIORS

Prior to tipoff, Temple honored five seniors: Steve Settle III, Jamal Mashburn Jr., Matteo Picarelli, Christian Tomasco and Shane Dezonie.
Senior managers Morgan Truckermiller, Lucas Gall, Caleb Brennan, Ryan Lenkaitis and Abhijit Choudhury were also recognized.

AAC CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDINGS

Memphis
North Texas
UAB
Tulane
Florida Atlantic
East Carolina
Temple
Wichita State
South Florida
Tulsa
UTSA
Rice
Charlotte

UP NEXT

Temple, the No. 7 seed, will face No. 10 seed Tulsa in the second round of the AAC Championship on Thursday, March 13, at 7 p.m. ET at Dickies Arena.
The Temple-Tulsa matchup will air on ESPNU and ESPN+. The winner advances to the quarterfinals to face No. 2 seed North Texas on Friday at 7 p.m.
Tickets for the American Men's Basketball Championship can be purchased on Ticketmaster.