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Khalif Battle’s career-high six threes not enough to lift Temple past Richmond in Empire Classic

The Owls dropped their second straight game in the loss. Next up: A home date with Drexel on Nov. 27.

Temple guard Khalif Battle, seen here inside the Liacouras Center, scored a team-high 26 points in a 61-49 loss to Richmond in the Owls' final game of the Empire Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Temple guard Khalif Battle, seen here inside the Liacouras Center, scored a team-high 26 points in a 61-49 loss to Richmond in the Owls' final game of the Empire Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.Read moreHEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer

NEW YORK — In the consolation game of the 2022 Empire Classic, Temple fell to Richmond, 61-49.

With Temple forward Jahil White out with a knee injury, guard Khalif Battle got his first start of the season for the Owls (2-4). With Richmond (3-3) double-teaming Jamille Reynolds all night and Damian Dunn finishing with one point, Battle was by himself. It didn’t stop him from leading all scorers with 26 in the Owls’ second straight loss.

“You have to have that desperation, and everything matters,” said Temple head coach Aaron McKie. " We’ve got to learn how to not dig holes for ourselves.”

» READ MORE: South Florida hands St. Joseph’s its second straight loss

Statistical leaders

Battle went 10-of-20 shooting, including 6-of-11 from three. His six threes were a career-high. He was Temple’s offense for much of the night as he scored or assisted on 15 of the Owls’ 21 first-half points.

“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Battle said. “When you’re down like that, you kind of get a little desperate.”

Richmond senior forward Tyler Burton led the Spiders with 18 points, while center Neal Quinn led the game with eight rebounds.

What we saw

Teams have noticed Temple’s inability to operate against the full-court press and are pouncing on it. Dunn, who entered as the leading scorer in the American Athletic Conference has struggled to weather the storms, averaging 3.8 turnovers per game this season. He finished with just a single point against Richmond.

“He’ll figure it out,” McKie said. “But we need him.”

Battle struggled to protect the ball and finished the game with six turnovers.

Tuesday marked Temple’s third straight game where the Owls had more turnovers than assists and the second where Temple had both more turnovers and more personal fouls than assists.

Richmond forced 16 Temple turnovers, 14 in the first half.

Momentum shifts

The Owls jumped out to an early 16-7 lead, holding Richmond to 3-of-16 shooting and 0-of-8 from three to that point. From then on, everything went downhill for Temple.

Temple closed out the first half on the wrong side of a 20-5 run that lasted 8 minutes and 37 seconds. The Owls went on a scoring drought that lasted just less than five minutes, and Richmond capitalized with 15 unanswered points.

In the second half, Richmond also went on a 12-2 run to extend its lead to 45-38 with 9:41 left. The Owls weren’t able to claw back and, like last year’s Charleston Classic, finished 1-2 in Feast Week neutral-site games.

“We’re going to have to work our tails off the next few days,” McKie said. “We’ve got to get right mentally … and that’s from top to bottom.”

Up next

Temple will host Drexel (3-1) on Sunday at the Liacouras Center (2 p.m., ESPN+).