The Temple men’s basketball team defeated No. 21 Virginia Commonwealth 84-76 in the last game of the season, breaking the Rams’ three-game winning streak.
The Owls (23-8, 11-5 Atlantic 10) earned a first-round bye with the victory, extending a seven-game win streak of their own.
Trailing 41-25 with three minutes, 49 seconds left before halftime, the Owls went on an 11-0 run to end the half, cutting the 16-point VCU (24-7, 12-4 A-10) lead to just five points.
Temple completed the comeback with 15:44 left in the second half, tying the score 48-48 on a Will Cummings layup. The Owls took their first lead since the beginning of the first half on the next possession, as Jake O’Brien drained a basket from beyond the arc.
The Rams never recovered from blowing the lead, as they allowed the Owls to go 10-for-15 from the field, including five 3-pointers, for the rest of the game.
Khalif Wyatt led the way for the Owls, scoring 30 points.
Both teams have first-round byes in the A-10 Tournament, as Temple will play the winner of the Massachusetts-George Washington game while VCU waits the winner Xavier and St. Joseph’s.
GWU makes tourney
In a thrilling overtime game, George Washington defeated Dayton, 81-80, clinching the 11th seed in the A-10 Tournament. The Flyers also made the tournament as the 12th seed.
Down by one following a Dayton (17-13, 7-9 A-10) free throw with the clock running down, Isaiah Armwood dunked home an offensive rebound off a Lasan Kromah missed layup as time expired to give George Washington (13-16, 7-9 A-10) the win.
Trailing, 71-69, the Colonials had tied the game on a Kromah layup with just 39 seconds left in the game. The Colonials got the ball again with four seconds left, but failed to convert a Bryan Bynes jumper, sending the game into overtime.
The Flyers led by four points with under a minute to go in the extra period, but back-to-back steals by Joe McDonald and Dwayne Smith of the Colonials led to breakaway layups to tie the game, 79-79.
Five players scored in double-digit marks for Dayton, with Dyshawn Pierre leading the way with 21 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
Dayton will play Butler in the first round of the conference tournament, and George Washington will take on Massachusetts.
Tom Mulherin can be reached at [email protected]
