Temple’s five-game win streak snapped in 66-63 loss to George Washington

WRITTEN BY: TOM HANSLIN  @tomhanslin

PHILADELPHIA — Temple head coach Fran Dunphy wasn’t too pleased with the defensive effort he saw on Wednesday night. 

Despite the Owls’ offense rallying from as many as 15 points down to knot the score at 63-63 with 38 seconds left, George Washington forward Tyler Cavanaugh’s deep three-pointer from the left corner with eight seconds remaining turned out to be the game-winning shot, as the Colonials held off Temple, 66-63 at the Liacouras Center.

The Owls (6-4) were out-rebounded 37-23, and allowed 22 points inside the paint. 

“We did a poor job defensively,” said Dunphy, whose team saw its five-game winning streak snapped. “You should get a defensive rebound. When a shot goes, you should get it. Our rebounding wasn’t what it needed to be. We’re not good enough defensively right now. We need to really work like crazy on the defensive end–those numbers are no good.”

Cavanaugh, a 6-foot-9 senior who began his career at Wake Forest, led the Colonials with 20 points, and scored George Washington’s final 10 points. 

As a team, George Washington (6-4) made nine three-pointers on 18 attempts, while also shooting 47-percent (25-53) from the floor. 

“Cavanaugh’s good, and we didn’t do a great job on him,” Dunphy said. “They have a good team, and I thought their coaching staff did a very good job tonight as well.”

Temple’s comeback developed with less than four minutes remaining. Down 61-52, the Owls made three consecutive buckets from behind the arc, with the first coming from Josh Brown and the latter two from Dan Dingle. On its next possession, the Owls matched George Washington with a basket from Shizz Alston to tie the game again at 63.

After Cavanaugh’s bucket, Dingle was given one final shot to send the same into overtime, but missed a game-tying three at the buzzer. 

“I thought it was going in,” said Dingle, who led the Owls with 14 points and seven assists. “I had the opportunity to step up and hit a wide-open shot and it just didn’t drop.”

Temple received minimal contributions from Obi Enechionyia in the second half due to late foul trouble, and finished the game with 12 points after scoring 10 in the first half. 

In his third game back since recovering from an offseason Achilles injury, Brown played a season-high 24 minutes, scoring 10 points on four made shots. 

“I thought (Josh) was terrific tonight in so many ways,” Dunphy said. “He didn’t play great against Penn. He struggled a little bit. Tonight he was ready to go, and it’s a nice comfort level for us. No quarrels with Josh Brown.”

Temple will next play in the Hoophall Miami Invitational against DePaul (5-2) on Dec. 10 at 11:30 a.m.

AUDIO STORY BY: JOHN COLE