Daily Cup of City 6 (2/10/14)

By Sean Kennedy

Yesterday’s Action

Houston 88, Temple 74

As usual, Temple’s philanthropic defense made even a middling offense like Houston look like the Miami Heat in an easy Cougars victory. Big man TaShawn Thomas was a dominant force on each side of the ball, scoring a game-high 25 points on 10-12 shooting, in addition to 9 rebounds and 6 blocks. Jherrod Stiggers and Brandon Morris both drained 5 threes a piece, to finish with 20 and 15 points, respectively. That hot shooting helped propel Houston to a 22-2 run in the first half and a 16-point lead for the Cougars. Later in the second half, the Owls brought a 20-point deficit down to 5, but Houston immediately responded and got things back up to double-digits.

One bright spot for the Owls was the play of Devontae Wilson, who finished with career highs in points (11) and rebounds (11) in just 19 minutes of play. Also providing an offensive spark was Dalton Pepper, who led the team in scoring with 17 points on 7-14 shooting. Temple is now dead last in the conference at 1-9, and things will likely keep going downhill with games against 4 ranked opponents in their next 5 games. If Temple doesn’t figure things out on the defensive end, it won’t matter who they play though.

Box Score