Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From temple University
PHILADELPHIA – With hot shooting from start to finish, top-seeded Temple men’s basketball left the outcome in little doubt as the Owls (26-10) cruised to a 77-59 win over third-seeded Louisiana Tech (27-9) in the NIT Quarterfinals. Temple will now head to the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden in New York City for the NIT Semifinals next week.
Temple will face the University of Miami in the first NIT semifinal on Tuesday, March 31 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN/1210 AM WPHT). The 9:00 p.m. game will feature top-seeded Old Dominion against second-seeded Stanford.
Junior Quenton DeCosey shot 7-of-11 from the field including 3-of-4 from long range and finished with a game-high 21 points for the Owls, making it his first career double-double as well with a game and career-high 11 rebounds.
Temple got 17 points from senior Jesse Morgan and 15 from senior Will Cummings, along with a game-high six assists.
DeCosey scored the first five points in the game in just over a minute, giving the Owls a lead they would hold the rest of the contest. Temple finished the first half shooting 52 percent from the field but was even hotter from long range. The Owls hit five of nine attempts including their first four, with Cummings draining two of those.
Over a four-minute stretch starting at the 15-minute mark of the first half, Temple exploded for a 14-2 run to take a 12-point, 25-13 lead. The Owls kept a double-digit lead for the majority of the last 10 minutes of the half, and led by as many as 14 with seven minutes to go.
Louisiana Tech scored the final four points to narrow the gap to eight at the break with the Owls leading 41-33. Cummings had 11 at halftime to lead Temple, while DeCosey and Morgan both had nine. The Owls’ ball-handling was impressive, as they committed just a single turnover in the first half.
The Bulldogs came within five early in the second half, but Temple answered with a 9-2 run for a 12-point lead and the Owls led by double digits the rest of the way. Temple matched its largest lead with the final tally after closing the game on a 7-2 run. Daniel Dingle was a big spark for the Owls off the bench in the second half, finishing with seven points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Temple will be making its first appearance in the NIT Semifinals since 2002. The Owls won the NIT in 1938 and 1969, and took third place in 1957 and 2002.
