PHILADELPHIA – After redshirt senior Daniel Dingle’s free throw attempt rimmed out midway through the second half, senior forward Mark Williams batted the ball to a Cincinnati player instead of grabbing it.
Coach Fran Dunphy put both of his hands over his face, and turned away from the court as the Owls continued to struggle by shooting 26.7 percent from the field.
Dingle had two opportunities at the end of the game to tie it up at 52, but failed to do so.
Junior forward Gary Clark blocked Dingle on his deep 3-point attempt from the right wing on his first attempt. With 15 seconds left, Dingle backed sophomore forward Jacob Evans toward the basket, and made a pass over his shoulder that was stolen by Clark.
Clark and senior guard Kevin Johnson would each hit a pair of free throws to finish the Owls 56, 50 at the Liacouras Center on Wednesday night. The loss makes the Owls 9-5, and 0-1 in American Athletic Conference play.
Daniel Dingle led the Owls with 15 pts - PSD Photo by Zamani Feelings
“The last possession, I figured since they started keying in on me, I had a one-on-one and I saw a double team come, I thought Obi [Enechionyia] was open, but the right place would’ve been Ernest [Aflakpui],” Dingle said. “I just made the wrong decision in a crucial point of the game.”
Evans found freshman guard Jarron Cumberland in the corner for a 3-pointer with 10 minutes, 27 seconds left in the second half that put them ahead 41-39 and started a 9-0 run for the Bearcats.
Temple, who shot 16 of 60 from the field, would end up trailing for the remainder of the game.
Dingle attempted to lead the team from behind, but didn’t get much from his supporting cast on their worst shooting performance of the season. He led the Owls with 15 points on 4 of 17 shooting.
Temple vs. Cincinnati
Junior forward Obi Enechionyia, Temple’s leading scorer, recorded seven points on 3 of 7 shooting. After scoring 20 points or more five times in the first seven games, he’s scored 15 points or more once in the last seven games.
Dunphy said teams are starting to scheme differently against Enechionyia now than compared to the beginning of the season.
“He’s not getting too many open looks,” Dunphy said. “The next progression in his game is… making the adjustment of shot fake and go by, which he did late.
“They’re running at him differently than they did a couple of weeks ago and people are figuring it out.”
Temple opened up the game trailing 9-0 after turning the ball over four times in the opening five minutes of the game. They didn’t record their first basket until Dingle sunk a free throw at the 14:04 mark to make it 9-1, Cincinnati.
While the Owls struggled to create in the half court offense, sophomore center Ernest Aflakpui hauled in seven rebounds in the first half, including four offensive. The Owls had seven-second chance points in the first half.
Senior guard Josh Brown missed his third straight game this season. Dunphy said he would be getting an MRI on Thursday.
Freshman guard Quinton Rose left the game at the 13:23 mark with cramps, Dunphy said.
“It’s huge,” coach Mick Cronin said about winning on Temple’s home court. “My respect for coach Dunph and this program, I can’t say enough about him as a person. It’s an honor to get to coach against him, hopefully he’s got years left in him, he’s a few years older than I am.”