Owls Fall to St. John’s 66-54 Amid Offensive Struggles
Written by: Declan Landis
Photo by: Temple Athletics
Despite playing close for three quarters, Temple lost to St. John’s 66-54 in the Carnesecca Arena.
The Owls, who shot just 37.5 percent from the field, struggled to score down the stretch. They were outscored 20-10 in the fourth quarter, including going scoreless for the last five minutes of play. The Owls had 19 turnovers in the game, 5 of which came in the 4th quarter and 3 in the last 5 minutes of play.
St. John’s, however, controlled the pace of the fourth quarter, as senior guard Unique Drake scored seven of the last nine points to put the game out of reach.
The Owls had three players score double figures, as sophomore guard Tiarra East had 15 and both senior guard Aleah Nelson and graduate junior Tarriyonna Gary had 11 points apiece. St. John’s also had three players score more than 10, as redshirt-senior forward Rayven Peeples led all scorers with 18 points and redshirt-senior guard Kadaja Bailey and redshirt-senior guard Jayla Everett added 14 and 12, respectively.
Though they struggled offensively throughout the night, the Owls forced 14 turnovers and blocked five shots. Their bench shined as well, scoring 14 compared to St. John’s 7.
The Owls held a 34-28 lead with 9:50 remaining in the third quarter, their largest lead of the game. Within two minutes, that lead vanished, and St. John’s took over. Though Temple had the lead with just over eight minutes in the fourth quarter, St. John’s once again proved their resilience and took back the lead with a layup from Peeples, a lead they wouldn’t lose again.
Temple committed 17 fouls throughout the matchup, nearly doubling St. John’s total of 9 team fouls. Three Owls were in foul trouble during the game, as sophomore forward Ines Piper and senior forward Denise Solis finished with 4 personals and East had three. St. John’s, in turn, went 10-18 from the free throw line, three more made free throws than Temple’s seven.
Ultimately, though the Owls showed fight throughout the game and led for the majority of the game, they fell short offensively. They were outrebounded as well, as St. John’s grabbed two more boards than Temple.
St. John’s moves to an impressive 3-0 on the season with this win and will play Stony Brook in their next matchup Saturday.
Temple, who falls to 1-2 on the season, will play No. 24 Villanova, who will travel to the Liacouras Center Sunday at 5 p.m. after their matchup against Penn on Thursday, November 17.
