Delaware Drops Heartbreaker at Temple, 75-74

Saturday, November 27

Philadelphia, PA

7:00 PM

University of Delaware

4-3,0-0CAA

Temple

3-3,0-0AAC

Delaware

Temple

Photo by: Mark Campbell

11/27/2021 10:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Delaware battled Temple for 40 minutes but came up just short as the Blue Hens dropped a 75-74 heartbreaker to the Owls Saturday night at the Liacouras Center.

Delaware led for over 27 minutes and built an 11-point second half lead, but Temple rallied behind Khalif Battle's 29 points to pull out the victory.

Kevin Anderson paced the Blue Hens with 26 points, while Dylan Painter contributed 21 on the night. Jameer Nelson, Jr. recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue Hens, who shot 49.1 percent from the field and knocked down 10 three-pointers.

Consecutive three-pointers by Nelson, Jr. and Anderson gave Delaware a 65-60 lead with 4:46 remaining, but Temple answered with six points in a row to go up 66-65 with 2:43 on the clock. Painter scored inside for the Blue Hens, before Battle drained a triple and added a fastbreak dunk to put the Owls up four.

UD was still down four in the final seconds when Anderson hit a running three-pointer to make it 75-74 with five seconds to play. The Blue Hens then fouled Damian Dunn who missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Nelson, Jr.'s last second heave was off the mark.

Delaware held the Owls to just 41.4 percent shooting, but was hurt by allowing 17 offensive rebounds and committing 17 turnovers.

After Temple took an early six-point lead, Delaware scored 10 straight points to go in front 17-13 on an Andrew Carr jumper at the 11:41 mark.

Dunn hit a three-pointer to give the Owls a 25-24 edge before the Blue Hens used a nine-point spurt to take a 33-25 advantage on a Ryan Allen triple with 1:51 on the clock. The lead grew to nine after a Nelson, Jr. jumper, but Temple scored the final five points of the period to pull within 35-31 at the break.

Back to back triples by Carr and Anderson early in the second half extended Delaware's lead to 46-35 and forced a Temple timeout with 16:45 to play. The Owls later scored eight in a row to take their first lead of the half at 55-54 on a tip-in by Nick Jourdain with 9:08 left, and the game went back and forth from there.

Martin Ingelsby
"Key turnovers hurt us down the stretch, and we were unable to keep them off the offensive backboard. They're an athletic team, and we gave them too many second chance opportunities. I love our group and we're fearless, we just needed to be a little more poised offensively late in the game. Our group is continuing to figure out who we are and create an identity. We're disappointed, but we showed what we can do against an American Athletic Conference opponent."

Gallery: (11-27-2021) MBB at Temple

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