PHILADELPHIA – The Massachusetts men’s basketball team hasn’t lost two consecutive games this season without then dropping a third. So now – after Saturday’s 64-47 loss to Temple inside the Owls’ Liacouras Center – UMass is on the verge of its fourth three-game losing streak of this tragically fading 2001-02 campaign.

Somehow, Willie Jenkins remains positive.

“We still believe we can go into the Atlantic 10 Tournament and win it,” assured the sophomore, whose team will remain in Philly until the completion of Tuesday night’s game at St. Joseph’s. “We didn’t lose the last two games because we didn’t play hard. We lost because we had bad starts.”

But three days removed from Wednesday’s 60-56 loss at home to St. Bonaventure, the Minutemen Saturday seemed to continue a rough beginning that may have begun in early November. And now three games under .500, UMass (10-13, 4-8 A-10) is again leaning toward the all-too-familiar style of come-from-behind basketball.

“It’s the same old story,” freshman point guard Anthony Anderson said. “We’re always playing catch-up. But this time we just didn’t catch up.”

The Minutemen never led. And barring Temple’s three-point lead just over a minute in, the closest they got was four points, 47-43, after a baby-hook from senior Kitwana Rhymer with 9:29 remaining in the final stanza.

But that threat soon stuttered, and sparked by a quick jumper from sophomore David Hawkins 30 seconds later, Temple (11-13, 8-4) finished the game on a 17-4 run.

“They’re not a good team to dig a hole against,” said Minuteman coach Steve Lappas, whose team didn’t score until the 14:45 mark of the opening half. “Once you do, Temple is a tough team to come back from because they’re not going to turn the ball over much, they’re not going to get a lot of run-outs. And that really hurt us.”

UMass started off slow as usual as Temple raced out to an 11-0 lead. Anderson’s long-ranger just over five minutes in put the Minutemen on the board, but after a Shannon Crooks lay-up six minutes later the Owls regained a double-digit, 19-7, advantage. Freshman Brennan Martin’s trey with 7:09 to go brought UMass to within 21-12 and a Jenkins put back with 2:31 left adjusted the count to 29-21, but the Minutemen faltered late in the opening half and Temple jogged into the locker room up 34-23.

“We played better in the second half than we did in the first half,” Jenkins said. “We came out with more intensity. But the first half is what hurt us the most.

“And any time you’re battling from a big lead, your adrenaline rushes so much that you lose a lot of energy,” he continued. “So I think that’s what happened to us in the end.”

Temple senior Lynn Greer led all scorers with 19 points in a full 40 minutes of action and is now just 82 points away from 2,000. Hawkins followed with 17 points while seniors Alex Wesby and Kevin Lyde chipped in with 10 each.

Anderson led UMass with 15 points, all coming from behind the arc. Jenkins and Crooks both added eight. Freshman Kyle Wilson, who scored 17 in the Minutemen’s 63-53 win over the Owls back on Jan. 19, was held scoreless.

“Wilson killed us last time from 20-25 feet out,” said Hall-of-Fame Temple coach John Chaney. “We were concentrating on him, making sure he couldn’t spot up and shoot. We were also trying to rush Anderson and Crooks.”

Anderson found his stroke from long range, going 5-for-12 from way back, but Crooks never found the same touch and finished 2-of-13 from the field.

“They kind of pushed out on everybody,” Anderson said. “So it was kind of hard to get those open shots that you usually get.”

Credit that to Chaney’s age-old defensive setup, the match-up zone. Frustrating the UMass perimeter all afternoon, the Temple defense also shut down the Minutemen in the paint. Totaling only four points in the St. Bonaventure loss, Rhymer and junior Micah Brand combined for just six points on 3-of-13 shooting.

UMass shot just over 30 percent for the game.

“No matter how many times you play against it, no matter how much you go over the scouting reports, no matter how much you know what they’re going to do,” Anderson said. “That zone is tough.”