PHILADELPHIA - The Temple Owls men’s basketball team earned their 200th win at the Liacouras Center on Saturday. The venue opened in 1997 and the Owls officially called it home on December 9th of that year, debuting at the new arena with a win over the visiting Fresno State Bulldogs from California. 199 victories later at the Liacouras Center, Temple was able to claim a much more personal victory, defeating their longtime Philadelphia Big 5 Rival, the Penn Quakers, 70-62.

The game started off slow as both teams combined to shoot 0-for-8 in the first two minutes of the contest. It was not until the 17:30 mark of the first half that somebody scored, when Temple’s Daniel Dingle made a layup. The Owls proceeded to score the next nine points courtesy of three consecutive three pointers. Back-to-back triples from Alani Moore II and a three from the top of the key by Shizz Alston Jr. gave Temple a double-digit lead early on over Penn. After that 11-0 run by the Owls, the game seemed as though it would already be out of reach.

Temple led by as many as 17 points in the first half, but the Quakers refused to lose easily. As a team, they stayed with their gameplan and held Temple’s leading scorer, Obi Enechionyia, to zero points in the first half.

“Trying to get him [Enechionyia] to drive to the basket was our main focus,” Matt Howard, a senior guard for the Quakers, said. “Just switching off ball screens and trying to crowd his space, limiting his jump shots...was our focus.”

The Quakers were able to take advantage of their stingy defense, and narrowed the margin to seven points with seven seconds to go in the first period. Daniel Dingle, one of Temple’s senior captains, looked to give his team back the momentum however, and scored a strong layup off the dribble for the last score before halftime.

Just as the first half went, Temple was able to find success early on. The Owls’ first two shots of the half were three pointers, again from the young backcourt of Alston Jr. and Moore II. A dunk from Temple’s sophomore center, Ernest Aflakpui, pushed the Owls lead back to 15 at the 15:59 mark of the second period, but just as the Quakers showed earlier on in the game, Penn was determined to come back from the large deficit.

Three three-pointers from Matt Howard and five low post baskets from AJ Brodeur in the second half pulled the Quakers to within a single possession in the final two minutes of play. A layup from Brodeur made the score 64-62 with 1:16 left to play, but the Owls ended the game on a 6-0 run to win the match-up.

“Temple deserved to win the game,” Quaker head coach, Steve Donahue, said after the game. “It was a two-point game with under a minute to go and they won the last minute.”

One of the main factors that stood out in the last minute was the play-making of freshman point guard, Alani Moore II. Moore was able to find his teammates easy baskets throughout the game, and in the final 60 seconds, Moore dished out two crafty assists to keep Temple in front. Temple head coach, Fran Dunphy, acknowledged Moore’s offensive performance following the win.

“Alani Moore stepped up in the first half and saved us,” Dunphy said. “And Alani Moore made two great assists at the end of the game. I thought he was very good on the offensive end throughout.

Moore ended the game with 12 points which all came from behind the arc. Moore shot four-for-five from three point range and was also able to find his teammates a number of times by recording a career high seven assists for the game. Shizz Alston Jr., Moore's fellow backcourt teammate, scored a Temple high 14 points on four shots from the floor and four shots form the foul line.

For Penn, Matt Howard scored a game high 19 points while also adding six rebounds to his stat line. AJ Brodeur, a freshman forward from Northborough, Massachusetts, added 17 points on eight shots and was also able to grab seven rebounds in 30 minutes for Penn. 

After a long and intense Big 5 week, both Philly teams continue play on December 7th at home. Temple (6-2), who is on a five game winning streak following their victory over Penn, plays former A10 rival, George Washington, on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. inside the Liacouras Center. Penn (2-4), on the other hand, looks to bounce back following two Big 5 losses with an 8 p.m. tip-off against Lafayette on Wednesday at the Palestra.