Temple had a lot of trouble closing this game out early on where there were a lot of points in the game where the Owls could have put it out of reach. Delaware started the second half strong, going on a 9-2 run to pull within five of Temple, but that’s as close as the Blue Hens would get. Temple would close out the game on a 30-16 run en route to 69-50 victory for only their second win of the season. Sophomore Obi Enechionyia, who was shaken up earlier in the game, had a monster game putting up a season-high 16 points(4-6 from 3pt range) 6 rebounds, and added 2 blocks. Obi is going to be one of the deciding factors that decides how far this Temple team will go this year. Jayden Bond added 11 points and Quentin DeCosey almost had another double-double posting 10 points and 8 rebounds. The two freshmen, Levan Alston Jr. and Trey Lowe, both had productive performances off the bench combining for 14 points
Temple’s defense did a fantastic job today holding Delaware to only 31% shooting from the floor and held Kory Holden(avgs 12.4 ppg), one of Delaware’s best players, to only 7 points. One of the big differences in this game is the Owls were more disciplined on defense only totaling 12 personal fouls the whole game and held the Blue Hens to only 10 free throw attempts. In Temple’s first four games, they allowed their opponents to shoot 20 or more free throws and that volume of free points was something Temple wasn’t able to overcome and played a significant difference three of those games. Temple still needs to shoot better from the floor and get more consistency from Devin Coleman, who has been almost nonexistent the past couple of games.
Temple has had a rough go of it early the season facing 3 ranked teams in winnable games, but they find themselves 2-3. The defense has been pretty solid this year regardless of what the scoreboard might say and if the owls demonstrate the discipline they had today, then opposing teams will have a tough time scoring. There is still room for improvement on the offensive end, we need to see more moves to the basket instead of just playing along the perimeter because getting in the paint can force fouls and get you free points at the charity strike. Temple will be at home again for their next game on Wednesday against Farleigh Dickinson at 8PM and you can watch the game ESPN3.
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