Temple outlasts UConn in double overtime

Monty Scott scored 25 points and Nate Pierre-Louis added 23 points, both of which were career-highs, to help Temple to a 93-89 doubleovertime win over UConn Thursday night.

Quinton Rose added 15 points and Alani Moore II scored 14 for the Owls (1412, 6-7 AAC).

Christian Vital tallied 21 points and Isaiah Whaley had 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Huskies (1412, 5-8). UConn was playing its first game without freshman big man Akok Akok, who tore his left Achilles’ early in Sunday’s 6461 home victory over Memphis.

The Owls, coming off Sunday’s 76-56 home defeat to Big 5 rival Villanova, went ahead for good in the second overtime on PierreLouis’ two free throws that made it 85-84. Temple’s lead was three, 89-86, after J.P. Moorman II’s layup with 57.6 left. After Alterique Gilbert missed a 3-pointer on UConn’s ensuing possession, Moore made a pair of free throws to put the Owls in front 91-86.

UConn went up 80-77 on Jalen Gaffney’s two free throws with 28.9 seconds left in the first OT, but Scott tied it with a 3 from the top of the key seven seconds later. Vital’s jumper from the left elbow just before the buzzer rimmed out.

Rose made it 65-57 with his first field goal with 3:40 left in regulation. Temple’s leading scorer had missed his first 10 tries from the field. UConn scored seven of the next nine points, capped by Vital’s follow basket with 1:33 to play, to pull within 67-63. Pierre-Louis then missed a 3-point try, but Moore dived on the floor for an offensive rebound.

Scott then missed the front end of a one-and-one with 48.2 seconds left, and Whaley scored on UConn’s ensuing possession. After Moore’s two free throws put Temple ahead 69-66 with 34.1 to play, Brendan Adams made the second of two free throws.

Rose then missed both free throws with 17.1 seconds left and, after a Huskies timeout, Whaley tied it at 69-all with a floater in the lane.

Scott’s runner at the regulation buzzer from just inside the 3-point line hit the back iron.

HOFSTRA 81, DREXEL 74

» Desure Buie scored 26 points as Hofstra won its seventh consecutive game, pulling away late from the Dragons.

Isaac Kante added 20 points and Eli Pemberton had 19 points and six rebounds for Hofstra (21-7, 12-3 CAA). Jalen Ray added 10 points.

Pemberton drained a 3-pointer, Buie turned a steal into a fast-break basket and a added a free throw when Drexel’s coach was assessed a technical foul as the Pride turned a one-point lead into seven, blunting a Drexel rally.

Kante made all eight free throws, including four in the Pride’s closing run.

James Butler just missed a triple-double for the Dragons, scoring 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting, grabbing 14 boards and dishing nine assists. Drexel (1315, 6-9) recorded 23 assists on 32 field goals but lost a fourth straight.

Zach Walton added 21 points for Drexel while Camren Wynter had 16 points and seven assists.

Hofstra is firmly atop the CAA standings with three games remaining, including against Delaware and Towson, two teams in the conference’s third-place cluster.