PHILADELPHIA — Redshirt freshman Anthony Lee‘s lone basket, a put-back off a Khalif Wyatt miss, with 0.3 seconds remaining on overtime lifted Temple to a 87-85 win over visiting Buffalo at the Liacouras Center Wednesday night. The win enabled the Owls (8-3) to extend their record home-court to 25 games while the Bulls fell to 6-4 on the season.
On a night where they both were honored pregame for reaching the 1000-point milestone, Ramone Moore and Juan Fernandez had big nights. Moore tallied a team-high 24 points and matched his season high with eight rebounds. Fernandez added 21 points and for the second straight game made five three-pointers. He also dished six assists while committing just one turnover.
Wyatt added 17 points, including three huge three-pointers while Aaron Brown was superb off the bench with 12 points and five rebounds over a season-high 33 minutes.
Buffalo came out strong early in the first half, surging to a 12-3 lead courtesy of a 9-0 run. After the Bulls were called for a team technical foul for hanging on the rim, the Owls were able to answer with a 10-0 run of their own to tie the game at 12 with just under nine minutes to play in the half.
The remainder of the half was evenly played with Temple taking a 35-34 into intermission on a Moore dunk off a feed by Fernandez.
The second half was tight for the first 15 minutes with neither team able to gain separation. Then a three-pointer by Dave Barnett (15 pts, 10 rebs) and a dunk by Mitchell Watt (22 pts, 9 rebs) gave the Bulls a 68-62 lead with 4:23 on the clock.
Buffalo extended its lead to seven a minute later on a basket by Jared Oldham (4pts, 11 assists).
The Owls then clawed their way back, scoring five straight points to cut the deficit to two, 72-70, with 2:35 remaining.
Two free throws by Oldham moved the margin back to two possessions, and following a hectic minute two TU misses and an Owl turnover, Tony Watson added two more from the charity stripe to push it to 76-70 with 1:22 left.
Fernandez then drained two free throws and then connected on a huge three to cut Buffalo’s lead to one, 76-75, with 52 seconds left in regulation.
Javon McCrea, who notched a game-high 28 points, was able to push the Bulls’ lead back to three, 78-75, with a layup.
With 23 seconds left, Moore stepped up with a huge trey off of a Fernandez assist to tie the game for the 11th time and send it into overtime.
McCrea opened up the extra session with a layup, but Wyatt drained a trey and Moore followed with a slam to put the Owls ahead 83-80.
After a pair of layups by Wyatt and McCrea, respectively, the game was knotted for the 13th time of the night at 85-85 with 1:01 to play when a series of interesting events began to unfold.
Lee had his layup blocked by Watt. The ball careened to Fernandez, who snatched up the offensive rebound, giving Temple possession with 29 seconds remaining. After running down the clock, Wyatt launched a trey with 3 seconds in regulation that missed, but just so happen to bounce into the hands of a thankful Lee after two Buffalo defenders collided underneath the basket.
Lee was able to sink the putback at the buzzer, giving Temple the victory and extending the team’s home winning streak to 25 games.
It was the highest scoring game for the Owls this season.
Following tonight’s victory, the Owls will head to Newark to take on the University of Delaware Blue Hens (5-5).
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