PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Temple maintained its top-four spot in the American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings while Wichita State earned its third-straight league victory on Wednesday night. Five different Owls reached double-digit points as Temple downed UConn at the Liacouras Center, 81-63. Samajae Haynes-Jones scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Shockers past ECU, 65-49, for their first road win of the season.
Wednesday, February 6
Temple 81, UConn 63
Five players scored in double figures to lead Temple to a decisive win over UConn, 81-63. The Owls (17-6, 7-3) shot a season-best 62-percent from the field in the opening period, using a 15-0 run for an 18-point lead by the midway point of the half.
Temple led UConn (13-10, 4-6) wire to wire, and by at least 15 points for all but the first eight minutes of the game.
The Owls held the Huskies to 4-of-18 shooting from long range while hitting 11-of-23, and outshot UConn 52.7-percent to 40-percent for the game.
The lead was as many as 28 points for Temple with eight minutes remaining, but the Huskies were strong on the glass in the second half and narrowed the cap to 16 points in the final minute.
Shizz Alston, Jr. led the Owls' five double-figure scorers with 18 points, hitting 4-of-8 three-pointers and dishing five assists.
Finishing just one rebound shy of a double-double was Quinton Rose who grabbed nine boards and scored 12 points. Nate Pierre-Louis scored 17 points, adding four assists and two steals.
Making his third career start, Justyn Hamilton scored 11 first-half points and finished with a career-high 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting. With 3-of-4 three-pointers made, Alani Moore II finished with a season-high 11 points.
Junior Christian Vital and sophomore Josh Carlton led the Huskies with 18 points and 13 rebounds apiece, while Eric Cobb added 13 points and five rebounds. Vital, Carlton and Cobb combined for 35 of UConn's 43 second half points.
Wichita State 65, ECU 49
Samajae Haynes-Jones hit his first seven shots on his way to a team-high 18 points, and Wichita State outrebounded ECU by 19 to pick up its first true road win, 65-49, Wednesday evening at Minges Coliseum.
WSU (11-11, 4-6) matched its season-high with three-straight wins.
Haynes-Jones finished 7-of-9 from the field (2-of-2 from three) and hit both free throw attempts.
Markis McDuffie added 14 points and two steals, becoming the 16th player in program history with 100 career steals. It was his 20th double-figure scoring game of the season.
Asbjorn Midtgaard grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds (five of them on the offensive end) to go with six points, and Jaime Echenique just missed a double-double with eight points and 10 boards.
Jayden Gardner and Isaac Fleming each had 11 points for ECU but no other Pirate had more than seven. Gardner added five rebounds two assists, a block and a steal.
The Shockers won despite shooting just 39.7 percent thanks to a gritty defensive effort. They held ECU (9-13, 2-8) to 34.6 percent and outrebounded the host Pirates, 46-27.
WSU had lost its first six true road games this year. Wednesday's road victory was the program's 50th in the last six seasons.
The Shockers led 34-20 at halftime and extended the margin to as many as 21 points late in the second half to improve to 2-0 all-time against ECU. The Pirates make their first-ever visit to Wichita in early March.
UPCOMING GAMES