Shizz Alston Jr.’s layup with less than a minute to go, followed by a few trips to the free throw line helped Temple survive the New Jersey Institute of Technology and pull out a 68-63 win on Saturday at the Liacouras Center.
The Owls (8-4) built up a 56-47 lead with 5:47 left in the game and looked to be pulling away after redshirt-senior swingman Daniel Dingle’s three-point shot. Instead, NJIT went on an 11-2 run to tie the game at 58 with 3:09 remaining.
Temple grabbed a 63-58 lead with 1:58 left, but a three-point shot from NJIT guard Damon Lynn and a tip-in by guard Rob Ukawuba tied the game with just more than a minute to go in the game before Alston's game-winning layup.
The Owls held the lead for more than 60 percent of the game, but the score stayed close throughout.
NJIT jumped out to a 19-13 lead with 9:09 left in the first half. Starting with a pull-up jumper by freshman guard Quinton Rose, and helped by two alley oops from sophomore guard Shizz Alston Jr. to junior forward Obi Enechionyia, the Owls went on a 12-0 run to build up their biggest advantage of the half—a 25-19 lead with 6:32 left in the first half. The Owls went into halftime up 31-30.
The two teams traded leads to start the second half but neither team led by more than four points until freshman guard Alani Moore II put Temple by six with 7:32 to go.
Three-point contest
The Highlanders shot 13 of 33 from the three-point arc. Lynn led all scorers with 25 points. He made 7 of 15 three-point attempts. As a team, Temple made 7 of 18 shots from behind the three-point line.
After making two threes in the first half, Temple didn’t make any in the first 12 minutes of the second half until Moore made the Owls' first three-point basket of the second half with 10:03 left.
Big-man contributions
Temple sophomore center Ernest Aflakpui had six points and nine rebounds. He had totaled five points and eight rebounds in the team’s previous three games combined.
Dynamic duo
After Enechionyia missed his first three shots of the first half, two transition baskets helped get him going offensively. Alston lobbed up two fast break alley oops to Enechionyia on back-to-back possesions in the first half. On one of the dunks, Enechionyia jumped over NJIT guard Tim Coleman to finish the slam.
Enechionyia made five of his final eight shots to finish with 13 points. Alston had 10 points and four assists on Saturday.
Brown out
Senior point guard Josh Brown missed the game due to soreness. He missed Temple’s first six games of the season while recovering from an Achilles injury. Moore started in Brown's place. He scored nine points, tallied four assists and had just one turnover in 34 minuts of action.
Up next
Temple plays against Yale at home on Thursday at 7 p.m. It’s the Owls last game before starting conference play against Cincinnati on Dec. 28.