Quinton Rose and Shizz Alston rebound in Temple’s win over Cal

NEW YORK — Quinton Rose and Shizz Alston enjoyed turnaround games and Temple followed suit.

A night after both Rose and Alston struggled on offense, the duo combined for 38 points in the Owls' 76-59 win over California in the Legends Classic consolation game Tuesday at the Barclays Center.

Now 5-1, Temple will have a week off before visiting Missouri on Tuesday.

Rose scored 23 points and shot 11-for-20 from the field, a stark contrast to his eight-point, 4-for-15 shooting performance in Monday's 57-51 semifinal loss to VCU.

"We both struggled [Monday] and I don't think that will happen too many more times, so it was good to get a win," Rose said.

Alston finished with 15 points and 10 assists, shooting 6-for-13 from the field, a night after scoring six points while shooting 2-for-14.

He became the first player from the American Athletic Conference this season to achieve a double-double in points and assists. It was Alston's second career double-double and tied his career high in assists.

"I don't think [he and I] will have those type of games at the same time," Alston said about Monday night. "It was tough to go through that, but today we bounced back and played pretty well and got the victory."

Before this two-day tournament, Cal coach Wyking Jones hadn't seen much of Temple. He came away impressed with the Owls, and particularly Alston and Rose.

"Alston did a good job distributing the ball," Jones said. "Rose and Alston are both very good players."

Temple gave itself some breathing room by going on a 10-0 run that ended with Alston's turnaround jumper inside to increase the Owls' lead to 54-37 with 11:31 left.

This was a different start for Temple than in Monday's loss. In that game, VCU scored the game's first 11 points and jumped out to a 19-2 lead.

Against Cal (1-3), it was Temple that got off to the fast start, beginning with a 19-5 advantage before the Golden Bears cut the margin to 32-28 by halftime.

Cal's two leading scorers, 6-foot-7 sophomore Justice Sueing and 6-foot junior Paris Austin, who entered averaging a combined 33.3 points per game, totaled just 14 points.

Temple received nine points each from Nate Pierre-Louis and Alani Moore. After playing six games in the first two weeks, will welcome the week of rest before resuming action. Coach Fran Dunphy feels the Owls will be better for competing in this tournament and rebounding for a win.

"This was important because it was a bounce-back game; you want to play our best basketball always," Dunphy said. "I thought we did some really good things tonight, not perfect, but some good things."