Temple outlasts St. Louis, 64-54

Temple has been inconsistent, at best, this season.

There were games where the Owls played like a team capable of going far in the NCAA tournament. On other occasions, they look like a team that's going to struggle mightily in Atlantic Ten Conference play.

Temple the contender surfaced Saturday evening. The Owls defeated St. Louis, 64-54, in an early-season yet pivotal conference test at the Liacouras Center.

Temple (11-4, 1-1 A-10), which snapped a two-game skid, hopes this victory is something to build on.

"We have to treat every game like it's a game for our lives, basically," Owls center Anthony Lee said. "So we can make it into the NCAA tournament. . . . We have to look into that, and really just go into every game like it's do or die."

While it wasn't a do-or-die situation, this was a big win for the Owls.

Besides ending a two-game skid, the Owls also avoided opening conference play with consecutive setbacks for the first time since 2006-07, coach Fran Dunphy's first season on North Broad Street.

In the process, they snapped the Billikens' nine-game winning streak. St. Louis dropped to 12-4 and 1-1.

Lee and Khalif Wyatt had a lot to do with the outcome.

Wyatt bounced back from a five-point effort against Xavier with a game-high 24 points. The 6-foot-4 senior guard also finished with a game-high three steals, three assists, and two blocked shots.

Lee finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks. It was the first 20-point, 10-rebound effort of his career and third double-double of the season.

Freshman swingman Quenton DeCosey started in place of struggling Scootie Randall.

"Who starts has never been an issue for me," said Dunphy, who informed Randall during warm-ups that he would be on the bench. "But I thought he handled it well.

"But he's got to make shots for us to be as good as we can be."

Said Randall: "It is what it is. He's a head coach. He knows what's best. So I just got to go with the flow."

Randall, who entered the game with 11 minutes, 33 seconds left before halftime, finished with three points on 1-for-7 shooting to go with eight rebounds in 32 minutes. DeCosey had one rebound and did not score in 10 minutes.

"I think I might try this again with other guys as well," Dunphy said. Power forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson "was banged up a little bit today. Maybe we will give him a chance to start the game off [as a reserve.]"

Dunphy added that Randall will probably start Wednesday at George Washington.

St. Louis pulled within 58-54 on Mike McCall's foul shots with 38 seconds left, but Wyatt and Lee made a pair of foul shots each before Hollis-Jefferson's dunk with 15 seconds left clinched the game.