Just like that of the Undertaker, the streak is over as undefeated No. 8 Southern Methodist fell to the unranked Temple Owls in Philadelphia this afternoon, 89-80. Owls reserve guard Devin Coleman had seven three-pointers and was 8 of 8 from the field as he led all players with 23 points, and Quenton DeCosey added 19 points.
On SMU’s end, Sterling Brown led with 19 points and nine rebounds.
In terms of what went wrong for the Mustangs, it can be summed up in one word: turnovers. SMU committed 14 of them and was playing catchup for practically the entire time. SMU also made just 3 of 14 three-point attempts and could not slow down Temple’s attack from long range. The Owls shot over 48 percent from beyond the arc and though they were out-rebounded 40-33, there was no stopping them. DeCosey’s three-pointer to make it 19-16 with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half put Temple ahead for good and the Owls led 44-34 at halftime.
SMU would put up a rally in the second half and trim the lead to as little as four points, but Temple was just too cohesive today and improved to 11-7 (5-2 AAC) while SMU fell to 18-1 (7-1 AAC). The Mustangs are ineligible for this year’s NCAA Tournament, but that doesn’t make the loss any less heartbreaking.
SMU will look to get back in the win column when it hosts Memphis on Saturday, while Temple will go for its fourth win in a row when it visits East Carolina on Wednesday night.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
