Coogs lose lead late in 3 point loss to Temple

Posted: February 21, 2016 -- 10:55 pm CDT.

HOUSTON, TX (Hofheinz Pavilion) -- The Houston Cougars lost to the Temple Owls 69-66 Sunday evening in a hard fought ball game. The Cougars led the Owls by ten points with 11:05 remaining in the second half; but, Houston was unable to put the Owls away as the Owls made all the right plays down the stretch to eke out the victory.

"Temple showed you why they're the best team in our league," Kelvin Sampson, Houston Cougars head coach, said in his post-game press conference.

The Cougars (19-8 overall, 9-6 in the American Athletic Conference) missed their last 9 field goals of the first and trailed the Owls 30-25 at halftime. However, the Coogs began the second half raining threes.

Damyean Dotson started the second half by swishing a three-point shot; then, teammate, Devonta Pollard banked in a shot to tie the game at 30.

Temple's Obi Enechionyia sank his fourth 3-point shot of the game to give the Owls a 33-30 lead; but, Pollard scored again before LeRon Barnes drained a three-point shot to give the Coogs a 35-32 lead (their first lead of the game). Next, Dotson knocked down three consecutive three point shots during a three-minute span for a 46-41 Houston lead.

Enechionyia cut Houston's lead to 46-44 with his 5th three-point basket; but, Pollard scored on a quick drive to the basket. Pollard was fouled on the play and made the free throw for a 49-44 Houston lead.

After a missed jump shot by Temple's Josh Brown, Rob Gray, Jr., scored a lay-up for a 51-44 lead which resulted in a 30-second Temple timeout.

Temple (17-9, 11-3) switched to a zone after the timeout; but, Dotson made his sixth three-point shot of the game (5th of the second half in less than 9 minutes) to give the Coogs a 54-44 lead at the 11:05 mark of the ball game.

"They scored 26 points in the first nine minutes of the second half, which obviously we didn’t do a very good job of defending, so we go down seven," said Temple head coach Fran Dunphy. "Then I made a move to go to a zone, and then Dotson stepped up and made a jumper right away, so that obviously didn’t work. After that, our defense really tightened up. We made some great stops. We made some big shots. That’s a terrific win for us, no question about it, given where we were at that late stretch of the game."

Dotson's basket was Houston's last made field goal for nearly 4 minutes; and, the Owls moved slowly back in the game with 5 points in 3 minutes. Houston's Ronnie Johnson  made a jump shot for a 59-51 lead with 6:49 remaining in the game; but, Temple scored seven straight points to cut Houston's lead to 59-58 with 4:36 on the clock.

Pollard converted a three-point play to boost Houston's lead to 62-58; but, Temple's Devin Coleman scored a lay-up to slice the lead to 62-60. Coleman was fouled on his basket; but, he missed the free throw. The missed free throw bounced out of bounds; and, Temple retained possession of the ball.

Temple's Quenton Decosey was fouled by Pollard. Decosey split the free throws for a 62-61 Houston lead with 3:44 left in the ball game.

Neither team scored for two minutes.

Rob Gray, Jr. made 2 free throws for a 64-61 lead; and, after Pollard blocked a three-point shot attempt by Cosey, Pollard grabbed the loose ball and was fouled.

After a 30-second timeout, Gray, Jr. rushed a three-point shot attempt which badly missed. Temple grabbed the defensive rebound and worked the ball to Enechionyia who swished a three-point shot from the top of the key to tie the game at 64.

On Houston's next possession, Enechionyia stole the ball from Pollard and Temple called timeout with 38 seconds on the game clock.

After the timeout, Devin Coleman swished a three-point shot for a 67-64 Owls' lead with 16 seconds remaining in the game.

Houston dribbled the ball into the frontcourt and called timeout with 13 seconds.

The timeout was Houston's last of the game.

After the timeout, Pollard attacked the basket; missed his first two lay-up attempts before scoring on his third attempt with 7 seconds remaining.

Galen Robinson, Jr. fouled Temple's Josh Brown with 6 seconds remaining. Brown made both free throws.

Without a timeout, Gray, Jr. received the inbounds pass and raced up the court as the clock wound down. Gray launched a three-point shot; but, the shot missed and Temple rebounded the missed shot to ice the game.

Enechionyia scored a game-high 26 points (10 for 20 field goals, 6 for 9 threes) for the Owls.

Dotson and Gray, Jr. each scored 20 points to lead the Cougars. Pollard scored 19 points and grabbed a game-high 14 points.

"I was proud of our kid’s effort and the way we came back and battled," Sampson said. "I wouldn’t expect anything less. They didn’t hurt or beat themselves. We had a couple turnovers down the stretch, but you have to get the ball to the rim. You have to give the referee a chance to blow the whistle that is why we play a certain way sometimes. We have to get the ball to the pain, drive it, and get to the free throw line.

"Devonta went to the free throw line 11 times, Rob went six times, but we needed to go a few more times."

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