PHILADELPHIA— Celebrating the 15-year anniversary of the opening of The Liacouras Center, Temple improved to 7-1 by defeating the Towson Tigers, 72-61. On the night, four scorers reached double figures including senior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, who put up a career-high 20 points along with six assists.
Senior Scootie Randall, who was held scoreless in the first half, turned in his second career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds to go along with a career-high five assists. Senior Khalif Wyatt scored 11 points and now is 13 away from reaching the 1,000-point milestone. With sophomore Anthony Lee‘s 10 points, it marked the second time this season when four players reached double figures.
Towson’s Jerrelle Benimon was the clear star on the night. The junior forward made 14 of 22 shot from the field in scoring a game-high 30 points. He also added a game-high 18 rebounds while playing the entire 40 minutes.
The Owls were unable to contain Benimon, but they were able to stop the Tigers, who were coming off a close (46-40) loss at #15/23 Georgetown Saturday.
Temple held the rest of the Towson squad to 12-of-38 shooting from the floor in posting its 11th straight win at the Liacouras Center and 36 of its last 37 games in the venue.
The Owls never trailed in the contest, scoring the first five points and then pushing the lead to double figures (18-7) within the first eight minutes.
It never really got comfortable for the hosts, however, as the Tigers cut the deficit to six, 32-26, by intermission, and trailed by four, 41-37, with 15 minutes to play following a three-point play by Benimon.
The Owls then went on a 12-2 run, with Hollis-Jefferson accounting for the final four points, to make it 53-39 with 10:35 to play.
Towson would never cut the deficit under double digits the remainder of the contest.
Temple made 12 steals in the game with sophomore guard Will Cummings leading the way with a career-high five thefts.
Temple’s next four games will be part of the Chevrolet Gotham Classic, presented by The Gazelle Group, with the first coming Monday, December 17 against the Alcorn State Braves. Tip-off time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at The Liacouras Center (OwlAccess/1210 WHAT AM).
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