ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Temple (2-0) made all four of its foul shots in the final 30 seconds of the game to stave off a furious second-half rally by the Navy (0-2) men's basketball team and win a 75-68 decision Friday night at Alumni Hall in the nightcap of the Veterans Classic.
Game one of the tenth edition of the event saw Duquesne post a 90-72 win over the College of Charleston.
"I thought we played a lot better in the second half," said Navy head coach
Ed DeChellis. "(In) the first half we were still trying to take the game on individually. We turned the ball over way too much in the first half, which gave them the opportunity to have more possessions. We took care of the ball much better in the second half. Offensively, we shot the ball (better) and had some movement. I thought defensively we were much better in the second half."
The Owls built a 26-16 lead midway through the first half and then closed the frame on a 10-0 run to take a 36-26 advantage at the break.
The teams shot a nearly identical percentage from the field (43%) in the first 20 minutes of play, but Temple was 15-35 to better than the 10-23 effort by Navy thanks to the Owls committing just two turnovers and forcing the Mids into 10 miscues. Temple also made seven three-point field goals in contrast to the two made by Navy.
The margin ballooned to 17 points at 48-31 less than three minutes into the second half. It was a 54-38 score when the Mids started to chip away. It became a two-possession game at 56-50 with 10:16 left on the clock, then the Mids had three possessions to cut into the margin even more before a three-point basket by the Owls stretched the difference to 59-50 with just under eight minutes remaining.
Navy made it a five-point game at 59-54 with five minutes showing on the clock but its 4-0 run was answered by a 4-0 run to take the score to 63-54 with 3:14 remaining. It was a 69-61 Temple lead when
Kam Summers drilled a three-point field goal for the Mids. The Owls converted just one of their two foul shots on the other end of the floor, then
Austin Inge made both of his attempts from the charity stripe to whittle the margin down to four points at 70-66 with 41.1 seconds left.
Temple again made just one of two foul shots, this time with 39.9 seconds still to play. The Mids hustled down the court and
Jack Medalie had his three-point shot blocked and the Owls grabbed the rebound. However,
Donovan Draper made a steal and scored on a layup with 31.1 seconds remaining to make it a 71-68 game.
The Mids sent the Owls to the foul line with 27.8 seconds left, and this time they made both attempts. Navy had two field goal attempts on the next possession, but the latter shot missed its mark and was snared by Temple. Navy fouled one more time and Temple made both attempts with 14.1 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.
"Our guys competed and gave us a chance," said DeChellis. "We had it to a two-possession game and just couldn't make a play we needed to get over the hump."
Navy shot almost 44 percent from the floor in the second half on 14-32 shooting and held Temple to a 38.5-percent showing (10-26). The Mids also won the turnover column in the second-half box score, 6-4, and matched Temple in rebounding as each totaled 19 boards.
Navy sent 13 players onto the court during the course of the game, which included four freshmen and the sophomore Draper who was not on the basketball team a year ago. Five players scored at least eight points with
Austin Benigni leading the way with 13. Just missing a double-double was Draper with 12 rebounds and nine points. He also added four steals and three assists.
The Mids next play Nov. 18 at UC San Diego and Nov. 20 at San Diego.
