Khalif Wyatt scores 24 to lead Temple past UMass

AMHERST, MASS. - Seated in the visitors' locker room Saturday night, Khalif Wyatt looked as if he needed an aspirin.

It wasn't just because the Temple guard led the Owls to an 83-82 Atlantic Ten victory over Massachusetts at the Mullins Center. He was mentally drained because Temple had just played its fifth consecutive game decided by one point.

"It's bad for my heart," Wyatt said of the nation's longest streak for consecutive one-point games dating back to the 1996-97 season, according to Stats Inc. There is no record of consecutive streaks before that season.

"Yeah, it's bad for my heart," he added. "But as long as we come up on the winning side of it, I ready don't care how much we win by."

The Owls (17-8, 6-5) were in search of any kind of win to get back into contention for an NCAA tournament at-large bid. And Wyatt can boast that his last-second defensive hustle helped to clinch this one.

Down 83-82, UMass (16-8, 6-5) had the ball with 17 seconds left. After running time off the clock, standout point guard Chaz Williams bobbled the ball. With Will Cummings as the primary defender, Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson came in and tipped the ball away, and Wyatt dove on it in the closing seconds.

Following a video review by the officials, Temple was awarded the win.

"At that point in the game, you don't want anyone else to get the loose ball," Wyatt said. "The game could be over. So I had to do what I had to do so they don't get the ball anymore."

Wyatt scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half. He made six three-pointers to go with three assists in 33 minutes.

Yet unlike in recent games, Wyatt received a lot of help from his teammates.

Anthony Lee (14 points), Scootie Randall (11), Hollis-Jefferson (10, 11 rebounds, and a career-high eight assists), and reserve Jake O'Brien (10) were the Owls' other double-digit scorers.

Cummings (seven) and reserve Dalton Pepper (six) also made timely baskets. Cummings' layup with 3:50 left gave Temple an 80-74 cushion and halted UMass' 5-0 run.

Randall later made perhaps the Owls' biggest basket. After the Minutemen closed the gap to one point, the senior swingman caught a pass from Wyatt and drained a wide-open three-pointer. That gave Temple an 83-79 lead with 1:25 left.

"I have a little more confidence now," said Randall, who had been in a shooting slump. "So me and [Khalif] made eye contact . . . He passed it to me and I told myself I've got to make it."