PHILADELPHIA, PA. 12/3/2014 – With just under five minutes to play the Saint Joseph’s Hawks held an eleven point lead over the Temple Owls and looked to be in control. From that point on the Hawks scored only five more points. Temple fought back and with 11 seconds left they had the ball down by two points. Will Cummings drove to the basket trying to tie or win it for the Owls, but DeAndre’ Bembry block his layup attempt. Temple got two more shots that missed and Saint Joseph’s held on for a 58 – 56 Big Five win at the Hagan Arena.
“Winning beats the alternative,” said Saint Joseph’s Coach Phil Martelli. “We have a lot of things we have to correct. It’s easier to correct off a win. It’s a win in a Philadelphia game.”
The Hawks led 53 – 42 at the 5:26 mark, but would only score on foul shots to the end of the game. Temple started their rally scoring 8 straight points to get to within three with 2:53 to play on a basket from beyond the arc by guard Quenton DeCosey, who scored a game-high 22 points. The Owls kept fighting back. Following a Saint Joe’s turnover Temple guard Daniel Dingle pout up a three that went in and out, but fellow guard Josh Brown rebounded the shot and his put-back cut the deficit to 57 – 56 with 30.4 seconds left.
Temple got another chance and forced a jump ball. The Owls had the possession arrow. However, DeCosey was called for an offensive foul at the 15.1 second mark that gave the ball back to Saint Joe’s. Miles to the line and made one of two setting up the trip down the court for the Cherry and White.
“The zone (defense) helped us as they got tentative as we did in the first half,” Temple Coach Fran Dunphy said about how his team got back into the game. “The game gets tight and every pass is an adventure.”
The Hawks got off to a good start in the game and took a 34 – 22 lead into halftime. Saint Joseph’s took 11 more shots than Temple (32 – 21) and made 14 compared to 7 in the opening stanza. Also, the Owls had 9 turnovers compared to 2 for the Hawks. In the second half Temple made 13 of 28 shots (46.4%) while holding Saint Joseph’s to 6 of 24 from the floor, However, the comeback would fall short.
“Our guys had some clean looks at three’s but didn’t knock them down,” Dunphy said.
Miles scored a career-high 20 points in the win. He also added 9 rebounds, 5 off the offensive glass.
“I liked the fact that he shot the ball,” Martelli said about Miles. “He stepped up and took the shots that were there and he thought they were going in.”
Bembry added 11 points and 7 rebounds.
The Hawks improve to 4 – 3 and are 1 – 0 in Big Five play. The Owls are also 4 – 3 and have a 1 – 1 record in the city series. Both teams prepare for Big Five battles. Saint Joseph’s travels to Villanova while Temple plays La Salle at the Palestra on Saturday.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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