By Sean Kennedy
Yesterday’s Action
Temple 86, UCF 78 (OT)
In their final home game of what has largely been a miserable season for the Owls, Temple gave the fans on North Broad something to cheer about, prevailing over the Knights in overtime. On his senior night, Dalton Pepper went out how he came in, firing away from behind the arc. Though he hit just 3 of his 11 three-point attempts, Pepper had a great overall game with 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. I’m sure he’ll look back on his senior night fondly, not only knowing he played well but that the team came away with a victory.
The Owls also received strong offensive performances for Anthony Lee, who recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Will Cummings (23 points). As usual, the Temple defense was MIA on the evening, as UCF shot 50% from the field and 48% from three, though the Owls did force 19 turnovers to help spur them on to the win. The Owls will finish their regular season at South Florida, looking to climb out of the AAC basement.
Today’s Action
9:00 PM: Saint Joseph’s (21-7, 11-3 A-10) @ George Washington (21-7, 9-5 A-10)
One game back of first-place Saint Louis with two games to play, the Hawks still have an outside shot at claiming the top spot in the Atlantic 10. The Billikens finish with the season with two teams on the tournament bubble in Dayton and Massachusetts; however, St. Joe’s have a tough task ahead themselves as they have to take on a Colonials team fighting for their postseason lives as well. With a few quality non-conference wins against Creighton, Maryland, Miami, and Georgia, George Washington has itself a nice tournament resume, as long as it doesn’t fall too far in the A-10 standings. The Colonials would also like to earn one of the double byes given to the top-four seeds in the A-10 tournament; currently; they lose a tiebreaker to UMass for that 4th spot.
Though it’s their first meeting this season against the Hawks, Philly sports fans have seen the Colonials split their two games against La Salle this season, although they’ve recently been without second-leading scorer Kethan Savage due to a fractured foot. Still, GW has a very balanced attack featuring former Indiana Hoosier Maurice Creek, who leads the team in scoring and is their top three-point shooter at 39%, and Villanova transfer Isaiah Armwood, who is a double-double threat in any given night. Against a difficult George Washington group with their backs against the wall, I feel this might be a late-season slip-up for the Hawks.
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