#AmericanHoops Scoreboard
Temple 81, #19/17 West Virginia 77
USC 78, SMU 73
Providence 60, Memphis 51
Mercer 70, East Carolina 66
Temple 81, #19/17 West Virginia 77
NEW YORK (AP) -- Obi Enechionyia and his Temple teammates beat two Top 25 teams to win the NIT Season Tip-Off.
"It's a confidence boost," Enechionyia said Friday after he had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead Temple to an 81-77 upset of No. 19 West Virginia in the championship game.
"We beat two ranked teams this weekend. Any time you can do that, it's huge for a team," Enechionyia added. "Knowing that we can beat anyone, I think that's big for us."
Enechionyia scored 18 points in the first half for Temple (4-2) but it was his free throw with 1 second left that sealed the championship for the Owls.
Enechionyia was named the Most Outstanding Player of the two-day tournament.
Alain Moore II added 18 points for the Owls, while Daniel Dingle finished with 15 and Quinton Rose 12.
Esa Ahmad had 19 points for West Virginia (4-1) while Teyvon Myers added 15 and Nathan Adrian and Tarik Phillip had 13 apiece.
Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins' critique of his team's performance was laced with frustration.
"We didn't guard," Huggins said. "We didn't guard the way we're capable of guarding. Our help defense was atrocious. We fouled too much. We didn't make free throws. We missed open shots. We missed 17 layups. Seventeen point-blank shots. We shot 61 percent from the free throw line. We work our butt off to try to get people to turn it over. They turn it over 19 times and we give it back to them 16."
Temple led 45-25 at halftime due to two extended stretches in which the Owls held the Mountaineers without a point.
Following Phillip's layup 1:29 into the game, West Virginia did not score for 5:28 until Adrian's layup at 13:09. During that stretch, the Owls outscored the Mountaineers 13-0. Then, after Ahmad's layup with 5:28 left in the half, Temple scored the next nine points until Phillips knocked down a 3 to cut the deficit to 38-23.
The Owls held West Virginia to 32.3 percent shooting from the field, including 27.3 percent from 3-point range in the first half. Temple forced West Virginia into 11 first-half turnovers.
"We don't do a good job of finding open guys," Huggins said. "We have consistently shot very, very poorly."
West Virginia finished with 16 turnovers while misfiring on 38 of 67 shots from the field.
Trailing by 20, West Virginia ratcheted up its trademark press defense in the second half. Phillips drilled a 3 right in front of the Mountaineers bench that caused Temple coach Fran Dunphy to call time out with 11:31 left, West Virginia was credited with nine forced turnovers in 8 1/2 minutes.
"You knew they were going to make their run," Dunphy said. "I didn't anticipate that we were going to have that kind of cushion throughout the second half. I was just hoping it (wouldn't) dissipate as quickly as it did."
The timeout did not stem West Virginia as the Mountaineers scored 13 of the next 17 points to take a 65-64 lead. It was their first lead since opening the game on a 7-0 run. A layup by Ahmad made it 67-64.
"The game was so crazy in the second half. They don't let you run any kind of offense," Dunphy said. "It was just a crazed style of game in the second half."
But Temple would not go away.
The Owls took a 75-71 lead on the strength of an 11-4 run spanning 2:36. Moore made four free throws in the stretch, and Rose added two free throws and a jumper.
The final 4:44 saw Moore play a pivotal role. The 5-foot-10 guard grabbed three rebounds and made two free throws to set the stage for Enechionyia.
USC 78, SMU 73
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Southern California didn't panic when they fell behind in the second half and the Trojans rallied by hitting threes to stay undefeated.
Bennie Boatwright scored a season-high 17 points and freshman De'Anthony Melton added a career-high 15 points to lead the Trojans to a 78-73 victory over SMU on Friday night.
Boatwright made 4-of-7 3-pointers and Jonah Matthews scored 14 points for the Trojans.
"I was out for 2 months and I'm now getting my rhythm back," Boatwright said. "My flow within the offense is picking up and my teammates are making good passes to me. In my first two games, I was pressing and everything was off."
USC (5-0) improved to 5-1 all-time against the Mustangs (4-2) and shot 49.1 percent from the field, including 12 of 24 from beyond the arc.
Melton scored nine points during a 19-4 run -- capped by Melton's 3 -- that gave USC a 51-41 lead with 10:56 to play.
"I got out there and ran and got open shots and that makes it fun," said Melton, who made 5 of 9 shots, had 6 rebounds and 5 assists. "We (the freshmen) are holding our own and our hard work is paying off. I'm learning and I'm getting stronger."
Boatwright and Melton combined to make 7 of the 12 USC 3-pointers.
SMU cut the score to 74-68 with 1:15 to play following a steal and layup by Shake Milton but would get no closer.
"That was a nice win," USC coach Andy Enfield said. "SMU is a quality team and will probably win 20-plus games. It was a big win for us. The players showed poise when they got behind in the second half. They ramped up the defense and got back in the game. The defense was getting stops using our length. Then we got out in transition and hit some threes."
Ben Moore led SMU with 14 points. Semi Ojeleye added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Milton and Sterling Brown each scored 12.
The Trojans took a 19-14 lead following a 3-pointer by Shaqquan Aaron at the 9:39 mark. The Mustangs battled back and took a 22-21 lead before USC took a 28-27 lead into the break.
"We knew coming in that USC was a strong team offensively with great quickness," SMU coach Tim Jankovich said. "We played a tremendous first half defensively but over the course of the game you could see our opponent hurting us with 3-point shooting. Every single guy is a big threat on USC and you could really see that come alive in the second half."
SMU outrebounded the Trojans 39-35 and outscored USC in the paint 38-24.
Providence 60, Memphis 51
NICEVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Rodney Bullock scored 18 points and Emmitt Holt added 16 to lead Providence to a come-from-behind 60-51 victory over Memphis on Friday night in the semifinals of the Emerald Coast Classic.
The Friars (4-1) play No. 7 Virginia, a 74-41 winner over Iowa, on Saturday in the title game after the two losing teams square off for third place.
Memphis (4-1) went ahead by 12 points, the Tigers' biggest lead of the game, with little more than four minutes left in the first half, led by Dedric Lawson's nine points. Lawson finished the game with 19 to lead all scorers.
Neither team could get much going offensively in the second half, but Providence eventually took its first lead midway through the period, 37-36, on a dunk by Kalif Young. The Friars expanded their advantage to 49-41 but Memphis twice closed the gap to four points before Providence shut the door with a game-ending 7-2 run.
Mercer 70, East Carolina 66
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Rian'n Holland scored a career-high 26 points and his 3-pointer with 20 seconds left helped Mercer beat East Carolina 70-66 on Friday in the Barclays Center Classic.
Trailing by nine at halftime, East Carolina rallied to a 66-65 lead on Andre Washington's free throw. Holland made his 3-pointer after a Mercer timeout, then Demetre Rivers got a big steal on the next possession. Jordan Strawberry iced it for Mercer with two free throws.
Stephon Jelks sparked and capped Mercer's opening 17-3 run with 3-pointers and the Bears led 31-20 at halftime after shooting 41.9 percent from the floor (13 of 31). ECU didn't score a field goal for eight- and four-minutes stretches in the half and shot 27 percent.
Rivers, Jelks and Ryan Johnson scored 10 points apiece for the Bears (4-1).
Kentrell Barkley scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Pirates (4-2). B.J. Tyson added 15 points and Washington had 10.