Temple Men's Basketball hits the century mark for season-opening wins Wednesday night, posting a 72-49 win over visiting Maryland Eastern Shore at the Liacouras Center. The Owls (1-0) are now a perfect 3-0 in season openers under head coach Aaron McKie.
Overall, Temple has won six straight openers and is now 100-26 in its first game of the season.
Recapping the Game
First Half
• After a tight first six minutes, Temple opened up a double-digit lead by virtue of a 15-2 run over an 11-minute stretch to take a 24-12 lead.
• Damian Dunn (eight pts) and Khalif Battle (five pts) combined for 12 of Temple's points in the stretch.
• The Hawks answered with 11 straight points on three-pointers by Dom London, Kohen Thompson, and Chace Davis with the run started by a Kevon Voyles jumper.
• Jeremiah Williams hit a jumper with 31 seconds left to halt the Hawks run, but a dunk by Voyles with three seconds on the clock made it a one-point Owl lead (26-25) at the half.
Second Half
• Like the first half, it was back and forth until Temple ran off 10 straight points over a two-minute stretch to take a 46-35 lead. Freshman Zach Hicks' second three of the night jump-started the run with a Battle three sandwiched between two Tai Strickland baskets.
• Temple would keep the visitors at arm's length the rest of the way. The Owls would close the game with a 10-0 run to break the game open, 70-47, on a Strickland jumper with under two minutes remaining.
Statistically Speaking
• Battle led all scorers with 22 points, making 9-14 from the field. He added 6 rebounds.
• Dunn also reached double figures with 18 points on 6-of-13 from the field.
• Hicks had a strong debut for Temple, scoring nine points while hitting 3-of-6 from three-point range.
• Nick Jourdain had a career and game-high nine rebounds to lead the Owls while Williams led Temple with four assists.
Next up
• Temple stays home, hosting 2021 NCAA Elite Eight participant USC (1-0) Saturday night (7 pm/ESPN+/1210 AM WPHT) at the Liacouras Center.