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  • Big Second-Half Performance Saves Houston From Suffering Another Loss To Temple Hoops

Big Second-Half Performance Saves Houston From Suffering Another Loss To Temple Hoops

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Basketball

Temple made nine three-pointers in taking a four-point lead at the half, but #3 Houston scored 13 straight points after intermission and never looked back in defeating the Owls, 81-65, in front of a sold out Liacouras Center crowd Sunday night.

Temple saw its four-game win streak end and falls to 14-10, 8-3 AAC) while Houston improves to 22-2, 10-1.

Khalif Battle led all scorers with 24 points. The Temple guard was six-of-12, including four-of-seven from three, and all eight free throw attempts. Jamille Reynolds and Zach Hicks each added 11 points and six rebounds for the Owls. 

Jarace Walker topped the Cougars with 23 points while Marcus Sasser added 13 and J'Wan Roberts and Jamal Shead (7 assists) chipped in with 12 each.

First Half
• In a tightly contested first half, the Owls would push through over the final five minutes to open up their largest lead, 37-31, on a Hicks three with just under two minutes to play and take a four-point lead at the break (37-33).
• Battle, who was held to seven points in the Owls win at Houston, scored 11 points in the period to lead the Owls with Hicks making three 3-pointers for nine in the frame.
• Walker led all scorers with 16 points on five-of-eight shooting (3-5 3PT).
• Temple made nine-of-17 from long range in the period while Houston made just five-of-14 from three.

Second Half
• Houston jumped out quickly, scoring the first 13 points in the frame to take a 46-37 lead with 15:43 to play. 
• Hicks ended the bleeding with a basket, but Shead answered with a three to push the margin to double figures, 49-39.
• After Houston extended its lead to 11, 52-41, the Owls scored seven of the next eight points, four by Reynolds and a three-pointer by Dunn, to cut the deficit to five, 53-48.
• Walker then answered with a three-pointer and Roberts a layup to push the margin back to double figures, 58-48.
• The Cougars would extend the margin to 65-51 two minutes later with a Sasser steal and layup.
• After Battle drained four straight free throws following a personal and technical foul on Sasser to cut the deficit to 67-57, Houston scored five straight to take its largest lead, 72-57 with just over four minutes on the clock.
• The Owls could not cut the margin under double figures the remainder of contest.

Statistically Speaking
• Houston shot 18-of-25 from the field (72%) in the second half and four-of-seven from long range.
• The Owls shot just 29.2 percent (7-24) after intermission and 3-10 from three.
• The Cougars assisted on 20 of their 28 baskets and turned the ball over just eight times while the Owls committed 15 miscues.
• The sellout was the first in the Liacouras Center since Feb. 16, 2000 against Villanova.
 
Next Up
• Temple travels to Dallas for a Wednesday night game against SMU (8 pm ET/ESPN+/1210 AM WPHT).