Temple falls flat in 74-55 loss at Tulsa

TULSA, Okla. - Fran Dunphy saw an unfamiliar Temple basketball team on Tuesday night.

The veteran coach's basketball squad had uncharacteristic turnover issues, which forced the Owls to turn to full-court pressure. It turned into a recipe for a tough night and led to a 74-55 loss at Tulsa.

"We turned it over eight times in the second half. That's not our M.O., that's not what we do and it leads to easy run-outs for this team that loves to run it up and down the floor," Dunphy said. "So we tried to press a little bit and that's not our style, either, and they burned us on that."

The Owls (17-10, 11-4 American Athletic Conference) still hold first place in the league standings. But seeing a six-game conference winning streak evaporate in a 19-point loss isn't the momentum builder craved by Temple.

Things started so well for the Owls, who were looking for a series sweep over the Golden Hurricane. Temple led by 25-13 with 7 minutes, 59 seconds remaining before intermission. A Reynolds Center crowd of 4,827 was silent as the Owls drained five three-pointers during that span.

It would be the biggest lead that the Owls had as Tulsa began fighting back. The Hurricane ended the half with an offensive flurry and, coupled with Temple's 61/2-minute stretch without a field goal, took a 31-29 advantage at the break.

"It was 25-13 and we got stuck. They switched their defense a little bit and we didn't run our offense good enough without Josh Brown in the game," Dunphy said. "We threw a couple of passes that I would rather that we don't throw, but we survived until the end of the first half. We actually had a chance to take a lead in the early part of the second half."

Tulsa (19-9, 11-5) led by 47-44 before pulling away from the visitors. A 13-2 run ended any chances for Temple, which scored only 11 points in the final 12:14. The Hurricane led by as many as 21 points in the second half.

"They hit a lot of good shots, a lot of threes that we should have contested a little bit more," said Temple's Obi Enechionyia, who ended with a team-high 17 points. "But they had some good players and shot it well and forced us into eight turnovers in the second half, which is uncharacteristic for us. They played hard and they are coached well. They have a good team."

Quenton DeCosey was the Owls' only other scorer in double figures. The senior ended with 10 points and added a team-best nine rebounds.

Pat Birt paced Tulsa with a game-high 23 points, while teammate James Woodard finished with 15 points and eight assists.

Temple will look to rebound Saturday in a home game against Central Florida.

"We need to forget about this game, watch the film, learn from our mistakes and come out on Saturday ready to play," Enechionyia said. "We have three more important games. We're still at the top of the conference and we need to stay there. These last games are important."