Temple Takes Step in the Right Direction at La Salle

PHILADELPHIA — Temple Men’s Basketball got back in the win column on Sunday, Nov. 15, taking down the La Salle Explorers 84-71 at John E. Glaser Arena for their first win in Big 5 pod play.

The Owls started out hot, making five of their first seven shots from three, but converted on just seven of 21 tries the rest of the way. Derrian Ford led the field with 20 points; senior wing Gavin Griffiths made a trio of second-half threes and enjoyed his best game of the young season, tallying 19 points and ten rebounds. After managing just 12 assists on 33 made shots in their loss to Charleston, Temple picked up six on their first 11 makes, although they tapered off down the stretch.

Reserve forward Baboucarr Njie provided a spark on both ends of the court, picking up 11 points, four blocks and a steal in 25 minutes; he also baited La Salle forward Anthony Finkley into a technical foul and made a team-high five of seven free throws.

Back and Forth

Temple looked ready to pull away late in the first half, holding the Explorers without a field goal for more than four minutes as they pushed their lead to 40-27. La Salle refused to go away quietly, bookending the half with a 13-0 run and tying the game at 46 with a Noah Collier and-one amidst a five-minute scoring drought from the Owls.

Temple responded in kind with a 15-4 run that saw them get back to fundamentals, spreading the ball around on the way to five consecutive shots made from the field. The Owls’ streaky scoring continued, however, as a 7-1 run over the course of more than three minutes kept the game within reach for La Salle.

After losing both games in pod play, La Salle will take part in the fifth-place game in the Big 5 Classic at Xfinity Mobile Arena; the winner of the Dec. 1 game between Villanova and Temple at the Liacouras Center will determine the winner of Pod 2 and the corresponding championship game slot. Up next, Temple will face Middle Tennessee State at Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 20; La Salle will host Coppin State at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18.