Temple Scorches Delaware State Behind Zach Hicks’ Record-Breaking 10 Threes
Written By: Jake Gabel
Photo Courtesy of: @TUMBBHoops
Philadelphia, Pa – The Temple Owls defeated the Delaware State Hornets 85-48 with help from freshman Zach Hicks’ 35 points. Hicks set a new school record for three-pointers made in a game with 10 and tied a school record for most points in a game as a freshman.
“The second shot I hit in the corner in the first half, that one did not feel good, I am not going to lie,” Hicks said. “That one felt like it was going over and it went in. And from there it felt like this might be my night.”
At the half, the Owls had a 35-25 lead over the Hornets. Hicks had all 16 bench points for Temple at the break. Delaware State only had three players score in the first half. John Stansbury and Zach Kent both had nine points while Myles Carter had seven.
In the second half, Temple’s offense exploded scoring 50 points compared to the Hornet’s 23. Not only did the offense impress, but the Owls’ defense was great all night long.
Hicks dominated even more after halftime, hitting six more threes. He went an extremely efficient 10-16 from downtown in this one. Meanwhile, Delaware State hit four threes the whole game on 18 attempts as a team.
Coming into this game, Hicks’ game-high was nine points in Temple’s very first game of the season against UMES on Nov. 10. Hicks also came into this game having made just one of his last 19 three-point attempts.
“It comes as no surprise. I’ve seen it, he just hasn’t made shots leading up to this point, but that’s who he is,” McKie said. “Not only is it hard to score 35 points in a college game, but to do it as a freshman, that’s impressive. I have no doubt in my mind he’s going to be an outstanding college player.”
Temple’s Jeremiah Williams didn’t score much but stuffed the stat sheet in every other possible way. He had nine assists, four rebounds, four blocks, and three steals. Williams gave the Hornets problems defensively the whole game.
“Just steady, it’s how he has to play for us, organizing us, being a hound defensively,” McKie said about Williams. “I told him at halftime I thought he started off slow. We wanted to set the tone early with these guys with our defense, get them on their heels.”
With the loss, the Delaware State Hornets move to 2-10 on the year. They will go on the road against Penn State for their next game.
As for the Owls, they improve to 7-5 on the season. Their next game is a Big 5 matchup as they will head to Villanova to take on the Wildcats. Villanova is currently ranked 23rd in the country coming off of a win over 18th ranked Xavier. That game is scheduled for Dec. 29, with tipoff at 9 p.m.
