Southern Methodist 64 - 71 Temple
Final
  for this game

Pepper, Temple take down No. 23 SMU

Feb 17, 2014 - 1:18 AM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Dalton Pepper scored 24 points to help Temple upend No. 23 SMU, 71-64, on Sunday.

Will Cummings had 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds for the Owls (7-17, 2-10 AAC), who had dropped four straight coming into the game. Quenton DeCosey also gave 13 points and four steals in the win.

"I think we got to spots better today than we had been," said Temple head coach Fran Dunphy. "We did a lot better job playing as a team and this was a really nice win for us."

Markus Kennedy had 18 points and five rebounds for the Mustangs (20-6, 9-4), who had a four-game winning streak broken. Nic Moore added 15 points in the loss.

Leading by a point, the Owls got a pair of free throws from Pepper with just over four minutes to play for a 61-58 lead.

Following a pair of misses at the free throw line from Moore, and a missed 3- pointer by Moore, Pepper put in a layup for a five-point advantage.

SMU then missed its next four free throw attempts, and Pepper put in two more from the line for a 65-58 advantage with 1:49 to play.

Moore then missed another free throw, but hit the next to bring the Mustangs' string of seven straight misses from the stripe to an end. The Owls, though, were able to make their attempts at the line, as the Mustangs continued to struggle.

SMU tried to make a run as Russell hit a jumper and Kennedy put in a layup followed by a free throw after a steal from a bad pass by Cummings, but Josh Brown countered with a pair from the line to put the game away.

SMU scored 11 of the first 13 points for an early nine-point lead, but Temple later got consecutive 3-pointers from Williams followed by a jumper by DeCosey for a 25-24 lead with 4 1/2 minutes left in the first half.

With the score tied at 30-all late in the first half, Williams hit a pair of free throws and Pepper put in a layup to give the Owls a 34-30 advantage at the break.

A 6-0 run from SMU early in the second half gave the team a four-point lead, but Temple got a pair of buckets and the game stayed tight over the next several minutes.

Game Notes

Temple hosts Connecticut on Thursday ... SMU hosts Houston on Wednesday ... Temple now holds a 3-2 lead in the series ... SMU shot 48 percent compared to 39.6 percent for Temple, but the Owls were 21-of-25 from the free throw line, while the Mustangs were just 14-for-26. Also, Temple had a 38-25 edge in rebounds.






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