Kent State comes back to beat Temple

The Temple Owls saw their string of five straight home-opening wins come to an end Monday night as they dropped an 81-77 decision to Kent State at the Liacouras Center.

Kent State closed the game by outscoring the Owls (1-1) by 22-10 down the stretch. Kent State (2-0) was led by Derek Jackson and Devareaux Manley with 17 points each.

The Owls placed five players in double figures, led by Will Cummings' 17 points. Anthony Lee and Quenton DeCosey both finished with 16 for Temple, which also received 15 points from Dalton Pepper and 11 from Mark Williams.

The Golden Flashes trailed by 67-59 with just over eight minutes left in the game. However, they continued to attack the Owls, taking the lead for good when Mark Henniger's layup with 3 minutes, 45 seconds left ended an 11-2 run and gave them a 70-69 lead.

They never trailed again.

Kent State made 11 of 22 three-pointers while Temple was just 5 for 19.

"I thought our three-point jump-shooting defense tonight was really poor," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "We over-helped way too much and they took advantage of it. There were indications that they were going to shoot it well early, so it wasn't really that much of a surprise."

Kent State coach Bob Senderoff said his Golden Flashes had struggled to make threes during the preseason. However, he never doubted they would be able to make them when it mattered most.

"We couldn't hit a shot to save our lives in the scrimmage we played," Senderoff said. "The thing is, I know we're a good-shooting team, and I know if guys are open, we have guys who are going to make the threes. We talk about how important they are. When you make 11 threes on the road, you are going to have a chance to win."

Temple struggled against a tight zone late. After making 15 of 28 field goals in the first half, the Owls made just 15 of 37 in the second.

"We are young and we are going to make mistakes," said Lee, who also pulled down 11 rebounds. "But we know we can correct them."

@JmitchInquirer