Temple edged at finish by East Carolina

GREENVILLE, N.C. - A hustle play beat Temple on Wednesday at East Carolina.

ECU, winless in its first six American Athletic Conference games, got a three-point play from freshman Kentrell Barkley with 1.8 seconds to lift the Pirates over the Owls, 64-61, in Minges Coliseum. The loss snapped a three-game win streak for Temple (11-8, 5-3 AAC).

"That was just a hustle play," Owls sophomore forward Obi Enechionyia said of Barkley's rebound and put-back. "They got some dribble penetration on that last play that we probably should have stopped. [Barkley] went back for the put-back, got fouled, and made the [free throw]. That's just hustle. That's all that was."

Two Josh Brown free throws tied the game, 61-61, with 21 seconds left before Barkley's winning points. Enechionyia led Temple with 18 points and Quenton DeCosey added 14 and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Prince Williams tied Enechionyia with a game-high 18 points and B.J. Tyson had 14. Barkley finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists.

There were nine lead changes in the first 7 minutes, 53 seconds of the second half before three-pointers from Devin Coleman and Enechionyia completed a 10-4 Owls spurt to give them a 52-47 lead.

Barkley and Tyson then sparked a 7-0 Pirates run that made it 54-52 ECU at the 3:47 smark. A pair of Williams free throws broke a 57-57 tie at 2:06 and his fadeaway jumper off the glass put East Carolina up, 61-59.

Temple turned the ball over on the inbounds play out of a timeout, but DeCosey got it back with a steal that led to Brown's tying free throws.

"We had a great win against SMU, but it meant nothing when we came here," said Owls coach Fran Dunphy, whose team upset previously unbeaten and then-No. 8 Mustangs on Sunday. "I think ECU is figuring it out. . . . I didn't think we handled their dribble penetration very well. We gave up way too many drives to the rim."

Fourteen Temple turnovers frustrated Dunphy as well, but perhaps not as much as the 12 points the Pirates scored off those giveaways and the 22-0 advantage in fastbreak points ECU enjoyed.

Temple led, 11-6, on a DeCosey jam before the Pirates responded with a 7-2 surge capped by Michel Nzege's hook shot at the 11:08 mark that made it 13-13.

East Carolina took a 24-23 lead after Clarence Williams' alley-oop dunk with 3:09 to go. It was the first of three lead changes in the final minutes of the half, which ended with a pair of Tyson layups and ECU ahead, 28-26.

The teams combined for just four free throws, 10 turnovers, and 12 fouls in the first half. DeCosey led the Owls with six points and six rebounds by halftime, and Prince Williams had nine points to pace the Pirates.