PHILADELPHIA – Temple (1-2, 0-2 AAC) battled undefeated SMU (6-0, 2-0) in a hard-fought effort, but the Owls came up short, 79-71, Wednesday afternoon at the Liacouras Center. Grad transfer (17 points), redshirt freshman (15 points) and freshman (13) led the Owls, while Darius McNeil topped four SMU double-digit scorers with 15 points.
First Half
> The teams went back and forth in the first half with the Owls scoring the first six points before relinquishing the lead on a 13-3 SMU run making it 13-9 with 14:11 on the clock.
> After Temple answered with five straight points on a steal and layup from Williams and a three-pointer from Barry, the Mustangs would score 12 of the next 14 points to open its largest lead of the period, 27-16, with just over eight minutes left in the half.