Temple defeats South Florida, 68-64, to earn third straight conference win

Temple continued its momentum in conference play by defeating South Florida, 68-64, at the Yuengling Center on Wednesday night.

The win marked three consecutive conference wins for the Owls. After finishing with a 6-7 nonconference record, Temple has put itself back into the NCAA Tournament bid conversation.

However, it was not a convincing performance. The Owls were helped by costly mistakes by USF. Center Russell Twecha was called with a 5-second violation with 1 minute, and 3 seconds remaining. It was a mistake that cost the Bulls a chance to tie the game.

In the final seconds, Temple (9-7, 3-0, AAC) crashed the boards and blocked USF from scoring again.

“We had to grind it out,” head coach Aaron McKie said. “It’s one of those games, we see a lot of them in the American [Athletic] Conference where it’s just hard-fought physical games.”

Temple was led offensively by guard Damian Dunn, who made 5 of 10 shots for a game-high 19 points. Additionally, guard Khalif Battle added 15 points.

Twecha created matchup problems inside of the paint, finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Forward Keyshawn Bryant scored 10 points, three of those buckets coming on monster dunks.

Both teams failed to execute on offense and struggled with turnovers.

Temple finished with 18 turnovers. Relinquished offensive opportunities gave South Florida (7-8, 0-2) ample chances to stick around.

Temple went 21 of 49 from the floor, including only making 3 of 14 from three-point range. However, making 23 of 26 free throws made the difference.

The Owls struggled inside of the paint against the 7-foot, 260-pound expanse of Twecha. Temple center Emmanuel Okpomo finished with four fouls and forward Kur Jongkuch struggled to make an impact.

South Florida struggled to find scoring lanes and gave up possessions by finishing with 17 turnovers. USF finished 25 of 61 from the floor, including 3 of 13 from beyond the arc, and converted 11 of 19 from the line.

The margin for error was slim, but Temple made enough shots and defensive plays to escape what amounted to quite the back-and-forth contest.

The Bulls outscored the Owls, 20-16, in the first 10 minutes of the second half. USF went on a 7-0 run to take a three-point lead. Neither program could capture the momentum to separate themselves for most of the game.

South Florida guard Tyler Harris converted two consecutive late second-half shots, but Temple guard Hysier Miller answered with a steal and was fouled. He made two from the free-throw line to take a two-point lead at the 2:35 mark.

Temple will return to the Liacouras Center to face Tulane (8-5, 1-1) on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+).