Temple’s closing surge tops UConn
Owls tie for AAC lead with 4th straight win
Quenton DeCosey scored 23 points, including Temple’s final nine points, and the Owls rallied to beat UConn 6358 Thursday night for their fourth straight win.
“Once we made the run and got back into the game and we were down two with two minutes left, I definitely told myself that it was my time to take over,” said DeCosey, a senior.
Daniel Dingle scored 12 of his career-high 15 points in the second half for the Owls (15-8, 9-3 American Athletic Conference), who overcome a late 12-point deficit by closing on a 21-4 run.
Shonn Miller scored 15 points and Rodney Purvis had 12 for UConn (17-7, 7-4), which had its threegame winning streak snapped.
The surging Owls have won seven of their last eight. Temple moved into a tie with SMU for first place in the American standings, a game-and-a-half ahead of UConn. Both teams are vying for the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament as SMU is ineligible for the postseason because of NCAA infractions.
With Temple trailing by 12 with six minutes left, Dingle sparked a rally with three 3-pointers in a two-minute stretch to cut UConn’s lead to 56-54 with 3:43 left. DeCosey tied it for Temple with 1:50 to go and, following a pair of free throws by Miller on the other end, put the Owls ahead 59-58 on an acrobatic three-point play.
After Temple’s Josh Brown forced a steal, DeCosey hit two more free throws with 19.9 seconds left to put Temple up by three. Before UConn could get a shot off, Purvis was called for a double-dribble and DeCosey sealed the win with two more free throws.
“We just couldn’t get a shot up,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said .“I’ m proud of our defensive effort. We just couldn’t make our shots and then we turned the ball over in the last five minutes.”
The Huskies committed three turnovers in the final 25 seconds after committing two in the first half.
TOP 25
Indiana 85, No. 4 Iowa 78 at Bloomington, Ind.: Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell scored 14 points and Troy Williams added 13 and Indiana rallied to upset the Hawkeyes after blowing a big lead.
The Hoosiers (20 -5, 10-2 Big Ten) pulled into a three-way for the conference lead and gave coach Tom Crean his fourth 20win season at the school.
Jarrod Uthoff led the Hawkeyes (19-5, 10-2) with 24 points, and Mike Gesell had 17. Iowa lost for the first time in four games.
California 83, No. 11 Oregon 63 at Berkeley, Calif.: Jabari Bird scored 16 of his season-high 24 points in the first half, leading California past the Ducks.
The Golden Bears (168, 6-5 Pac-12) never trailed and led by as many as 25 points while remaining unbeaten at Haas Pavilion this season.
Dillon Brooks scored 17 points, and Chris Boucher added 11 points and six rebounds for Oregon. The Ducks (20-5, 9-3) had their six-game winning streak snapped.
AREA SEC WOMEN
No. 15 Texas A&M 64, No. 11 Mississippi State 58 at College Station, Texas: Courtney Williams had 22 points and Courtney Walker had 21 as the Aggies defeated Mississippi State.
The Aggies (17-7, 7-4) trailed by 11 late in the second quarter before Danni Williams made two free throws after the fourth offensive rebound and Taylor Cooper made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to cut it to 32-26 at the half. Walker opened the second half with two jumpers, but A&M didn’t take the lead until Williams’ layup at the 1:32 mark.
With Texas A&M holding a one-point lead entering the fourth quarter, Williams made a 3-pointer and the Bulldogs never caught up.
Morgan William scored 18 points to lead led Mississippi State (21-5, 8- 4), which shot 31 percent (19 of 61). Victoria Vivians added 13 and Dominique Dillingham 11.
“We just didn’t cash in on enough of our offensive opportunities,” William said. “We made too many mistakes to win a game like that.”
No. 25 Tennessee 69, Vanderbilt 51 at Nashville: Jaime Nared scored a season-high 18 points to lead five Tennessee players in double figures and the Lady Vols ended a fivegame road losing streak.
Di a mond DeSh ield s scored 12 points and Te’a Cooper and 6-foot-6 center Mercedes Russell each had 11 for Tennessee (15-9, 6-5).
Tennessee protected its fourth-quarter lead this time after blowing double-digit advantages in overtime road losses to Texas A&M and Mississippi State in its previous two road defeats.
Vanderbilt (15 -9, 4 -7) lost its fourth straight and shot only 38 percent from the floor.
Rebekah Dahl man scored 13 points to lead the Commodores.
Auburn 65, Ole Miss 60 at Oxford, Miss.: A’Queen Hayes (Horn Lake) scored a career-high 17 points but the Rebels faltered down the stretch in losing to Auburn
Ole Miss (10 -14, 2-9) led 52-45 heading into the fourth quarter but couldn’t hold on.
Madinah Muhammad added 11 points for Ole Miss.
MID-SOUTH
West Florida 75, Christian Brothers University 59 at Pensacola, Fla.: A 19-0 run sandwiching the halftime break gave the Argos a 51-24 lead, and they withstood a rally to beat the Bucs (11-13, 9-9 Gulf South).
Jordan Miller scored a career-high 24 points for CBU. Jeff Larkin added 19 points.
West Florida women 68, CBU 58 at Pensacola, Fla.: The Argos made a 9-1 run over three minutes late in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Lady Bucs (9-13, 7-11).
Ashley Schaefer led CBU with 17 points. Madison Luckett (St. Benedict) had 13 points and Rachel Lee had 11.