Drexel didn’t make it easy, but Temple remains unbeaten following yet another Big 5 nailbiter

A first real Big 5 game on Drexel’s campus Tuesday night looked the part. The Daskalakis Athletic Center was sold out. Streamers streamed onto the court after a Luke House three-pointer two minutes into the game.

And then the two teams — Drexel and Temple — put on what turned into an old-school Big 5 performance in an at-times physical, poor shooting — by both teams — display that amounted to a 66-64 Temple win, and a frantic finish.

“That’s Big 5 basketball, we knew it was going to be a possession game, said Temple coach Adam Fisher. “I’m proud of these guys. They just figure out how to win and whatever it takes.”

Drexel (1-2) dropped to 0-2 in the inaugural Big 5 tournament. Temple, which played at the DAC for the first time since 1985, is 1-0 in Big 5 play and improved to 3-0 to start the season, the first time since the Owls’ 2019-20 campaign.

Fisher won’t love the 31% his Owls shot from the field Tuesday night. But there was at least something for him to like in Temple staying undefeated, starting (and maybe finishing) with defense and taking care of the ball.

John Chaney would have loved it.

Temple turned it over five times to Drexel’s 13. The Owls held Drexel to 38% shooting. Count those turnovers as big deals. Furthermore, Temple’s five turnovers were the fewest in a game since March 2015.

“We’re really defending, and it starts with our communication,” said Fisher. “That’s got to be our calling card, we’ve got to defend. [But] I’d probably like to see us make some more shots.”

“If you told me before the game we would hold them to 31% shooting, am I reading that right? I’d say where do I sign?” Drexel coach Zach Spiker said.

Hysier Miller scored 19 points, but he needed 22 shots (and only five makes) to do it. He was 3-for-13 from three-point range.

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“Coach trusts me to make plays for this team,” Miller said. “I don’t care too much about a rough night at the office. I’m just happy we were able to pull it out.”

Jordan Riley finished with seven points, all of them coming during a critical stretch with roughly 8 minutes remaining. He made a tough shot to stretch a five-point lead to seven. Then later drilled a three-pointer as the shot clock buzzer sounded.

Temple’s fifth turnover came at the worst time. Drexel had cut a six-point lead to three on a Justin Moore three-point play. Miller then turned the ball over with 13 seconds left after Temple inbounded.

Drexel missed a shot but retained possession. The Dragons inbounded to Lamar Oden Jr., who made a layup with 7.9 seconds on the clock.

Miller made two free throws down the other end with 6.6 seconds left, giving Temple a three-point lead. The Owls then fouled Moore with 4.2 seconds remaining. Moore made the first attempt, then missed the second. The rebound went to Drexel’s Amari Williams, who couldn’t convert at the rim.

“What sticks with me is everybody on our team surrounded our players and we went through that together,” Spiker said. “I’ll stand with that. I’ll live with that. And I’ll double down on this locker room and where we go from here.”

In a back-and-forth game with a margin in the single digits, it only takes one play and one run to make the difference.

For Temple, that came four minutes into the second half. Drexel was threatening to turn a 5-0 run into a 7-0 run that would’ve cut Temple’s lead to one. Moore drove to the rim, and had his attempt swatted by Temple’s Steve Settle III.

It led to a transition basket by Miller and a seven-point Temple lead.

The Dragons won’t win many games when Williams and Moore aren’t filling up the score sheet at the same time as they did Tuesday night, especially early. Moore ended up with 18 points, but the bulk of them came late in the game as Drexel played catch-up. Williams scored eight points on 2-for-8 shooting. He was 4-for-6 from the free-throw line.

An encouraging sign for Drexel is that two players — House and Yame Butler — both look like real complementary pieces for a team that needs it if it wants to make a serious run at a CAA title.

House made four three-pointers and scored 20 points. Butler kept Drexel in it at times in the second half when the Dragons needed a basket. He finished with nine points.

“This is not a surprise what Luke House is doing,” Spiker said. “He’s got more opportunities now and he’s making them count.”

Williams missed all five of his first-half attempts. For a large portion of Tuesday’s game, Drexel was shooting at a higher clip from beyond the three-point arc than it was from two-point range. That’s rarely a winning formula.

This weekend, Drexel hosts a three-team event, dubbed the Market Street Challenge. The Dragons play Fairfield on Friday (7 p.m., NBC Sports Philadelphia) and then Queens College (N.C.) on Sunday (2 p.m., FloSports).

Temple, meanwhile, is off until it hosts Columbia on Saturday at the Liacouras Center (1 p.m., ESPN+).