PHILADELPHIA – Tai Strickland scored a career-high 27 points to lead Temple to a 64-57 come-from-behind win over American Athletic Conference leader SMU Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center.
Strickland scored 21 of his points in the second half, including 18 in the final six minutes. It was his layup with 53 seconds that put Temple, 53-51, then sealed it with eight-of-eight free throw shooting. He finished 8-of-14 from the field and a career-high 11-of-14 from the line.
The undermanned Owls were again playing without their top two scorers, Damian Dunn (ankle) and Jeremiah Williams (shoulder), for the second straight game while the AAC's leading scorer, Kendric Davis (ankle), was not available for the Mustangs.