Jamal Mashburn Jr. scored 21 points Thursday night to lead five players in double figures as Temple upset No. 18 Memphis 88-81 in an American Athletic Conference game in Philadelphia.
Quante Berry added 19 for the Owls (11-6, 3-1), who canned 46.8 percent of their field goal attempts and nearly doubled up the Tigers 49-25 on the boards. Shane Dezonie came off the bench to tally 15 points and grab a game-high 13 rebounds.
Temple also got 11 points from Steve Settle III and 10 from reserve Zion Stanford. It won despite missing 13 free throws in a marathon second half that took nearly an hour and a half to play. The officials called 33 fouls and administered 57 foul shots in the half.
PJ Haggerty scored 21 points for Memphis (13-4, 3-1), which had a four-game winning streak snapped. The Tigers also got 16 points and six assists from Tyrese Hunter, while Dain Dainja added 14 points and Nicholas Jourdain chipped in 11 before fouling out.
The Owls led by as many as 15 points early in the second half and then kept the Tigers at bay for the game’s remainder. Haggerty hit a foul shot with 5:57 left to pull Memphis within 65-63 but Temple scored on six straight possessions to hold them off.
Going into the game, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway was hoping his team could set an early tone and play from the lead. Instead, after a decent start, they fell behind and spent most of the last 30 minutes chasing Temple.
Jourdain’s dunk at the 9:59 mark of the first half gave the Tigers a 17-16 edge but that was the last time they would lead. The Owls ripped off the next seven points with Berry’s layup putting them ahead 23-17 with 7:42 left.
Dezonie drilled a pair of 3-pointers for a 32-23 advantage with 3:18 remaining, Temple’s biggest lead of the half. Memphis did cut it to 36-30 at the break when Dainja rolled across the lane and tossed in a hook shot with 2.9 seconds on the clock.
The Owls used a 22-12 rebounding advantage and 6-of-15 3-point shooting as their vehicles to the lead.
–Field Level Media
