Coleman's big three helps Temple sink Houston

HOUSTON - Among the many reasons the Houston Chamber of Commerce uses to encourage travel to its city, "long-term memory" is not listed, but it's one the Temple Owls used to their advantage Sunday night as they beat Houston, 69-66. The win helped ease the memory of a 27-point thumping the Cougars gave the Owls earlier this season, as well as the memory of a disastrous Texas road trip last year that probably cost the Owls a chance at the NCAA tournament.

"Of course, that was on all of our minds," said Temple forward Obi Enechionyia, who led all scorers with a career-high 26 points. "We talked about it and thought about it."

"Absolutely, we talked about" the loss to Houston earlier in the year, said Temple guard Devin Coleman, whose three-point basket with fifteen seconds remaining broke a 64-64 tie. "A loss like that is something that stays with you, and I'm so glad we could come in here and get a win."

"The second we got on the plane, we were talking about getting this win, we didn't even mention the Tulsa game," said Temple guard Josh Brown, who ended up with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Temple got off to a strong start, taking a 22-9 lead with 10 minutes, 57 seconds left in the first half, behind three three-pointers by Enechionyia. But Houston stormed back behind guard Rob Gray Jr., who finished with 20 points. Gray came off the bench to get 11 first-half points, including five on a 7-0 Houston run as the Cougars pulled to within 30-25 at the break.

Houston took command in the second half and a three-pointer by Damyean Dotson (20 points) gave the Cougars a 54-44 lead with 11:05 left.

"From there our defense really tightened up, we made some great stops, hit some big shots, and it really is a great win for us," said Temple coach Fran Dunphy, whose team improved to 17-9 overall and 11-3 in American Athletic Conference play.

After fighting back to the 64-64 tie with 15 seconds remaining, Temple didn't designate Coleman to take the three-pointer, but he was glad to respond to the call, making it 67-64. "We had a play drawn up but they broke it up," he said. "So they swung the ball back to me and there were only a couple of seconds on the clock."

After a quick layup by Houston cut the lead to one, the Cougars fouled Brown with six seconds left and his two free throws secured the win. For Brown, it was an especially satisfying return to glory after he was benched for 14 minutes at the start of the Villanova game for cutting class.

"I didn't do the right thing, and had to pay the price," said Brown. "I was a distraction, I let my teammates down, but I came back to practice the next day to win back their trust and they welcomed me with open arms."

When asked what class he cut, Dunphy immediately replied, "nuclear physics," with tongue in cheek, making it clear that Brown's suspension, as well as a 27-point loss to Houston earlier in the year, is now ancient history as far as he was concerned.

Jaylen Bond finished with eight points and six rebounds for the Owls. Devonta Pollard had 19 points for Houston (19-8, 9-6).