PHILADELPHIA  – Wichita State and Temple battled for 40 minutes before the Owls came out on top, 91-85, Friday night in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
Wichita State (10-4, 0-1) dropped its league opener for the fourth straight season, and has now lost three straight vs. Temple.
Justin Hill returned to the lineup after missing the non-conference finale vs. Friends and finished with a team-high 25 points, while also adding five rebounds and five assists.
Xavier Bell finished two points shy of his fourth straight 20-point game, totaling 18 points on 7-of-17 shooting.
Quincy Ballard logged his third straight double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Four of his five made field goals were thunderous dunks, including an incredible one-hand alley-oop from
Bijan Cortes in the second half.
Before fouling out,
Corey Washington totaled 13 points and five rebounds.
The free throw line proved costly in a two-possession game. Wichita State missed 12 free throws and shot just 57 percent on the night, while Temple converted on 77 percent (24-of-31) of its attempts.
Wichita State was 7-for-20 from three-point range and shot 47.7 percent overall, while Temple was 9-for-20 from long range and 50 percent overall.
Wichita State started the game on fire, jumping out to an 11-2 lead, but the game would be back and forth all night long. Temple responded with a 10-0 run to grab a 12-11 lead in a game that featured 17 lead changes and five ties.
With 7:01 left in the half, Temple took its largest lead of the half, 29-24. The Shockers would punch back, finishing on a 15-8 run to take a 39-37 halftime lead.
The Owls quickly retook the lead out of the locker room and would hold the lead for the next seven minutes.
A 7-2 spurt highlighted by three-pointers from Cortes and Hill gave Wichita State a 62-58 lead with 10:52 remaining. Three minutes later Temple retook the lead with four straight points at the free throw line.
A Hill triple again pushed the Shockers back on top by a point, 69-68. The turning point came with 6:23 to go after the Owls made back-to-back three-pointers to go up 74-69. Another score made it a seven-point game at the 4:55 mark and the home crowd was on its feet and in a frenzy.
A Ballard score briefly silenced the crowd only to see the Owls score five straight to take its largest lead of the night, 81-71, and 3:40 on the clock. After a scoreless minute, Temple extended its lead to 12 at the free throw line.
One final push saw the Shockers score seven straight, pulling within five, 83-78, but the Shockers would come no closer.
Up Next
Wichita State hosts South Florida on Monday night for its American home opener at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
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