Coming off upsetting the last unbeaten in the country SMU, Temple came up short on the road at hands of East Carolina by a score of 64-61. The Pirates got a layup and one from Kentrell Barkley, who finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, with 1.8 seconds and Temple couldn’t recover. Obi Enechionyia led the Owls with 18 points and had 5 rebounds in the losing effort, which is more points than he had in his last three games combined. The production from Obi against East Carolina is encouraging for the team because he has been nonexistent in the offense as of late and he is a key part to Temple’s success.

Quenton DeCosey continued putting up consistent numbers posting his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Ernest Aflakpui continues to improve each game adding career-highs in points(8) and in rebounds(10). His steady contribution the past couple of games have been huge for Temple, who had to play their second game without leading rebounder and team captain Jaylen Bond. Both teams struggled mightily shooting in this game, but most notably Temple only shot 39% from beyond arc. Devin Coleman, who made 7 of 7 three’s vs SMU, only made two three-pointers against East Carolina. The Owls also turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 14 times leading to 12 points off turnovers for East Carolina.

Temple basketball has had a handful of letdown games so far this season and it’s going to be the difference between them heading to the NCAA Tournament or landing once again in the NIT. Temple will look to bounce back this Sunday against a struggling South Florida team who has only managed to win four games this year.

In a game where Saint Joe’s only shot 38% from the floor and DeAndre Bembry scored 13 points, you think it would have been a loss, right? Wrong, Saint Joe’s found a way to win 78-70 and a big part of that was Isaiah Miles, who posted a double-double with a game-high 27 points and 12 rebounds. Miles has truly emerged as of one of the leaders of this teams and his aggressiveness in this game led the Hawks to victory for their sixth in a row. At the rate they’re going, Saint Joe’s will be heading to the NCAA Tournament representing the Big 5 along with rival Villanova.

            Though the Hawks overall shooting was poor, they made up for it by getting to the free throw line a total of 40 times as opposed to UMass’s 17. Saint Joe’s made 29 of their 40 free throws, which is basically 29 free points and made a key difference in the outcome of the game. The Hawks also won the turnover battle forcing the Minutemen to turn the ball over 14 times. Saint Joe’s and UMass were pretty evenly matched, but when you’re on the type of roll Saint Joe’s is right now, there isn’t much you can do to stop them.

            Saint Joe’s will look to keep the momentum going on the road Saturday at Rhode Island as the Hawks look to complete the season sweep and continue building their resume for the NCAA Tournament. 

Drexel and Towson were stride for stride most of the game with each team shooting over 50% from the floor and also shooting over 50% from beyond the arc. The problem was Towson was more aggressive than Drexel and that led to the Dragons having most of their starters in foul trouble. This obviously led to a lot of free throws for Towson and that was one of the main reasons why they took this one 77-70. The Tigers attempted 32 free throws as where Drexel only attempted 16 and Towson made them count making 75% of their shots from the charity strike. Despite all the foul shots, the game was still in reach for Drexel, but they didn’t really have anything left in the tank.

            Sammy Mojica led Drexel with 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the floor including three of five from three point range. Mojica was one of four Drexel players in double-figures, joining him was Rodney Williams(15 points), Terrell Allen(12 points), and Kazembe Abif(12 points). Scoring did not seem to be a problem, but rebounding was a different story. Towson was able to out rebound Drexel 29 to 18 and the Dragons only managed two offensive rebounds as opposed to Towson’s eight.

            It’s kind of a lost season for Drexel as they fell to 3-17 on the season and are heading nowhere fast. Drexel will be back at home to host Hofstra on Saturday and maybe this will be the game to snap the Dragons out of their five-game losing streak.