Temple completes season sweep of Princeton with 65-61 victory

PHILADELPHIA — With a minute left to go against Princeton, Temple held a two-point lead and only needed a bucket to essentially ice the game. Guard Jordan Mason had the ball in his hands, an easy decision as the team’s main ball handler had scored 16 points to that point.

Instead of a basket, Mason coughed the ball up but managed to poke it away from Tiger guard Jackson Hicke and find guard Derrian Ford, who had a shot at a layup but it missed it. With a second chance, Princeton found an open man in guard Jack Stanton with 30 seconds left, who launched a three-pointer.

The attempt ricocheted off the rim and Temple hauled in the rebound to wrap up a 65-61 win Monday night at the Liacouras Center

“Great credit to Princeton,” said head coach Adam Fisher. “They do a hell of a job. They exploit you. They take advantage of things. So, I think Princeton’s gonna have a great year. But I’m really proud of our guys. I think we didn’t play well in the first half, in our opinion, but we found a way to win. I think that’s what you got to do, is find a way to win, especially at home.” 

The last time these two teams faced off in the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational, Temple (8-5) let Princeton (3-11) hang around before closing the door on a win. The Owls had a sense of urgency to open the game and stormed out to an 11-6 lead after falling behind early by four.

The reason was simple — the defense.

Temple’s defense has been inconsistent to say the least to begin the year but has found a rhythm in the last three games. That trend continued as the Tigers went nearly seven minutes without a field goal and missed five straight shot attempts.

The Owls were able to get Ford going, but it was forward Babatunde Durodola who gave his team a boost. He was moved to the bench in favor of forward Jamai Felt in Temple’s game against Georgian Court on Dec. 9 to take pressure off of him, Fisher said.

The move has seemingly worked, as he quickly scored six points. The sophomore looked more comfortable on offense and reverted back to his role from the start of the year, where he was used as a facilitator. Durodola finished the half with seven points and two assists.

“It hasn’t really affected me in any way,” Durodola said. “Coach [Fisher] says it doesn’t matter if you start or if you come off the bench, minutes are minutes and you have to play hard with those minutes you’re given.”

The scoring from Durodola helped give Temple’s offense a boost as guard Aiden Tobiason didn’t notch his first points until the final five minutes of the half and guard Gavin Griffiths, who returned after missing last Thursday’s game against Davidson with an injury, had a goose egg in the game. The lack of offense didn’t matter, however, as Princeton’s offense was stuck in neutral. 

That began to change midway through the half. Temple was unable to gain a comfortable lead, which allowed the Tigers to slowly chip away.

Princeton began exploiting the paint and Temple had no answers for it. Forward Malik Abdullahi and Stanton were the main culprits. Abdullahi powered through Temple’s defense time and time again for 14 first-half points. His dunk prompted a 13-6 Princeton run and gave the Tigers their first lead since the 16-minute mark of the half.

“We really wanted to take away the three-point line and they adjusted and they tried to be really physical with us, especially in the first half,” Mason said. “I think that we just knew that’s what they were going to do. We came up with the mindset, especially in the second half, to just be physical and just guard and take pride in defense.”

That momentum continued as the half dwindled down. Temple briefly took a one-point lead after a layup from guard Masiah Gilyard before Hicke drilled a triple to head into halftime up 35-33. Temple’s hot start had vanished as it missed eight of its last 10 shots of the half, resorting to hero ball instead of making extra passes, where it has seen the most success this season.

Once the second half opened, it was like Temple’s offensive first-half struggles had disappeared. Felt got the half off with a layup, starting a 10-0 run after the Tigers got the first points.

Instead of building on that run, Temple went scoreless for two minutes and Abdullahi brought the Tigers back to within two points. Abdullahi finished the game with 21, but he only had one more field goal the rest of the way.

While Princeton was looking for a new offensive engine, Temple found it in Mason. The Illinois-Chicago transfer conducted the team by helping the early run with four points, but was also key at keeping the Tigers at bay. He hit a three that ended the Owls’ scoring drought and then added three assists. 

Mason ended the game with a team-high 16 points and Tobiason and forward Ayuba Bryant Jr. helped keep the Tigers at arm’s length. Tobiason had 12 with seven coming after the break and Bryant scored all eight of his points in the second half and hauled in the rebound that sealed the game.

“He’s fantastic. I think he just makes the right reads,” Fisher said of Mason. “But we just have trust in him. I talked to him at halftime today. I said, ‘What do you want to run?’ And he was like, ‘got it.’ And he just called it. I think when your players know we have that belief in you, our guys know to always have their eyes on him.”

Temple ended nonconference play on a four-game winning streak and will open up American action at Charlotte (6-7) on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.

Owls play again without AJ Smith

Adam Fisher said after the game that reserve guard AJ Smith will take time over the holidays to figure out if he will play through a shoulder injury or sit out the rest of the season to recover. Smith, who hasn’t played since scoring five points in 13 minutes back on Dec. 1 at Villanova, is averaging 7.8 points and 1.4 rebounds per game while shooting nearly 49% from the field. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Charleston transfer’s extended absence would be a significant loss for Temple considering his ability to defend along the perimeter and drive to the rim.

“I said to him, ‘Go home for Christmas, talk to your family, jump on a call, see you how you feel. Let’s talk to them,'” Fisher said postgame when asked about Smith. “And then we’ll probably make that decision on what he does from there.”