Collapse at The Cathedral: Penn Uses Lopsided Second Half to Deny Temple of Outright Big 5 Title
Written by: Adrian Maghacot
Photo by: Penn Athletics
Penn (6-7, 1-3 Big 5) upset the Owls (6-5, 3-1 Big 5) 77-57 at The Palestra to prevent their sweep of the Big 5 and potential outright title.
This is the first time the Owls lost a game by more than 20 points since facing Houston on March 3.
Even though Temple lost, they still have an opportunity to outright win the Big 5 title if Villanova loses to St. Joseph’s on December 17.
The first half was a grudge match between both teams, but Temple managed to take its first lead with 4:36 left in the period. After that mark, only six total points were added to the scoreboard and Temple ended the first half leading 28-26.
The Big 5 is noted as a very physical group of schools and this half was no different as controversial calls/no calls were a larger theme than the score.
Junior guard and Penn leading scorer Jordan Dingle was called for an offensive foul while shooting a three, but was expecting a shooting foul by sophomore forward Nick Jourdain.
One minute later, three Penn players got physical with Temple sophomore forward Jamille Reynolds while shooting a layup and that was not called.
Both calls yielded high negative reactions from both sides of the court.
Penn kicked off the second half with a 7-0 run after two turnovers from Temple sophomore guard Hysier Miller, but Temple slowly got back into rhythm and tied the game at 53 with 8:49 left to play.
However, Penn got right back where they started by going on another seven point run, and the Owls struggled with scoring for the rest of the game. Temple were outscored 24-4 and did not score a field goal for almost nine minutes..
Dingle led Penn in points with 30 and a career-high six assists. He also broke the record for most points scored against Big 5 opponents in a season with 120. The previous record was set by former Los Angeles Laker Cliff Anderson with 116 during the 1966-67 season.
“He scored at the rim, can play a screening role, create for others, and shoot the three,” Temple head coach Aaron McKie said. “We knew coming into the game that we were going to face that with him.”
Junior guard Andrew Laczkowski had a career high in rebounds with nine.
One of the largest factors in Penn’s success was managing possessions and slowing down game tempo. In the second half, the Owls had the momentum and played high-octane offense, but kept getting stalled and shot 41.7% in the half.
“One of the things that hurt us earlier this season was not managing our teams very well,” Dingle said. “We just held up and reminded ourselves to stay focused and not let that get to us and run our offense.”
Temple redshirt sophomore Khalif Battle led the team in points with 14 and sophomore guard Jahlil White tied his season high in rebounds with six. However, the Owls had much more trouble than success as three players had at least four fouls and White fouled out with less than two minutes in the game.
Penn will stay home and face Wilkes University at The Palestra on Saturday, December 28 at 2:00 PM.
The Owls will travel to Oxford to face Ole Miss (7-2) at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion on Saturday, December 17 at 5:00 PM.
