Temple 93, UConn 89 (2OT): Stats, highlights, and reaction from Owls’ win

Aaron McKie looked upward in exasperation and wiped his head with his trusty towel as the second overtime began. If it was the same towel he’d been using, it had to have been pretty smelly by then.

Temple had two chances to close out UConn on Thursday night at the Liacouras Center, leading by two possessions with less than two minutes to play both in regulation and overtime. An 11-2 run in the second extra period finally slammed the door on the pesky Huskies and gave Temple a 93-89 victory.

Temple (14-12, 6-7 American Athletic Conference) led UConn for nearly all of the second half. After missed free throws by the Owls kept UConn (14-12, 5-8) alive with less than a minute to play, an Isaiah Whaley bucket for UConn at the 5-second mark tied the score at 69. A buzzer-beating attempt by Monty Scott rimmed out and sent the game into overtime.

Temple again controlled much of the first overtime before a flurry of missed chances allowed the Huskies to sneak into the lead with 48 seconds left after a three-point play by James Bouknight. Temple trailed by three with 21 seconds to play when redshirt junior guard Monty Scott, who finished with a career-high 25 points, drained a game-tying three and kept the Owls alive.

Buckets by Alani Moore and J.P. Moorman, as well as important free throws by Scott and Nate Pierre-Louis, finally put the game away for Temple. Scott’s career high led the Owls while Pierre-Louis also scored a career high with 23 points. Christian Vital paced the Huskies with 21 points.

Monty Scott was heroic. He came off the bench and hit five of his first six field goals en route to his second career high in four games. He wasn’t able to hit the buzzer-beater in regulation, but he more than made up for it with the tying shot that electrified the Liacouras Center.

After an impressive effort against Villanova, Quinton Rose struggled offensively against, missing his first 10 field goals. Pierre-Louis was there to pick up the slack, completing a double-double with 14 rebounds on top of his 8-for-14 shooting.

“I think I’m kind of used to taking tough shots,” Scott said about his game-tying three in overtime. “It was a tough shot to make, but I was confident enough to put it down. … I was thinking three the whole way.”

“Every time we come to the huddle, all the guys were saying let’s run this and get it to Monty,” coach Aaron McKie said. “I was comfortable letting Monty have the last shot there because he had a good flow going on the offensive side.”

Temple has wanted Scott to be a go-to scoring threat off the bench all season, but he hasn’t been able to put together consistent offensive performances. On Thursday, McKie trusted Scott with the game on the line and he delivered.