By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)
Temple 75, Cincinnati 69 – Box Score
27 games. That’s how many consecutive times the Bearcats had held their opponent below 70 points entering play Tuesday night, the longest such streak in the nation. One of those occasions was an 84-53 drubbing delivered to the Owls in Cincinnati less than a month ago. However, there was one major difference between that meeting and this latest matchup: Will Cummings.
The presence of the senior point guard and team captain, who missed the previous Cincinnati game with a leg injury, made all the difference. After reaching 1,000 career points in Temple’s previous game, Cummings had himself a terrific encore, going off for a game-high 21 points, 5 assists, and 4 steals, while dominating play on both ends of the floor. He wasted no time showing things were going to be different this time around, picking the pocket of Octavius Ellis on Cincinnati’s very first possession and breaking loose for a lay-up on the other end. Cummings making things difficult for Bearcat ball handlers was a common occurrence throughout the evening, not to mention the crafty floaters in the lane he had working offensively.
Coach Fran Dunphy on his point guard: “I thought he had a terrific game for us tonight in every aspect: defensively, creating loose balls for us, getting into the rim, his passing was on target, he hit a couple jumpers…I think he was certainly key to our victory.”
With Cummings leading the charge, the Owls showed Cincinnati wasn’t the only team on the court capable of playing tenacious defense. Temple forced 17 Bearcats turnovers, while committing just 8 themselves; the resulting 27-4 difference in points off turnovers was basically the difference in the game. With Obi Enechionya missing the game after suffering a right ankle sprain in practice, even more of the burden in the frontcourt fell to Jaylen Bond. Bond responded by playing a career-high 39 minutes, recording 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals, playing his typical outstanding brand of defense.
When asked what the biggest change has been for his team defensively since last season, Dunphy responded, “Jaylen Bond…He’s so versatile defensively. He can guard people on the post. If we get stuck with him on the perimeter against a point guard, we don’t have any fear.”
With two minutes left and the Bearcats having cut a 20-point Temple lead down to 12, Bond even put an exclamation point on the evening with this one-handed alley-oop flush off a lob from Jesse Morgan:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWaHz1i6Omw]
Ever the team-first player, Jaylen said about the play: “People were telling me it was a SportsCenter Top 10, but I was just thinking about getting back on defense.”
With their winning streak now at 6 games, the Owls have moved into sole possession of third place in the American, with games against the top-two teams SMU and Tulsa upcoming next week. Still, Coach Dunphy refuses to look any further ahead than this Saturday:
“Somebody said to me, ‘Answer this question: This is the biggest game since…?’ And I said Memphis. Memphis was the biggest game and now this was the biggest game. On Saturday, East Carolina will be the biggest game.”
Dunphy rightfully has his team taking things one game at a time, but with everything clicking for the Owls and the team still undefeated when all their starters are healthy, fans can maybe begin to look ahead to March.
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