Capital Gains

Temple men’s basketball coach Fran Dunphy sounded like a man who just wanted to get out of town before somebody told him it was a mistake that his team won the game.

The Owls scored the last 10 points of the game to stun George Washington, 55-53, in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night. The Colonials didn’t score in the last 7:53 and missed two shots in the final seconds.

Temple improved to 12-4 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic 10, while GW fell to 7-9, 1-2.

“Any time you can go on the road and win a game, you should be pleased and thank your lucky stars and get on the bus and hope it’s a safe bus ride home,” said Dunphy. “It was very similar to the last three times we played GW in that we didn’t play well early and found a way to win the game late. We just found a way. There was a lot of fractured play and somewhow we scored more points.”

Temple trailed by 10 at the half, scoring just 18 points for their lowest total before the break this season. The Owls went on an 11-3 run to start the second half and closed the deficit to two at 31-29, but the Colonials threatened to pull away. However, the Colonials didn’t score after Isaiah Armstrong’s layup put them up eight at 53-45.

George Washington missed its last 11 shots over the finl 7:53 and was also 0-for-3 from the free-throw line. Two Khalif Wyatt free throws with 2:03 to play gave Temple a 54-53 lead, its first advantage of the game.

“We knew we had a chance to fight back,” said senior forward Jake O’Brien, who scored 10 points in his second start of the season. “Everybody played their part tonight. To get a win on the road is great moving forward, we’re going to have a lot like these down the stretch.”

Wyatt led the Owls with 18 points, though needed 18 shots. He was the only Owl other than O’Brien in double figures.

“The first 13 minutes we didn’t play real good offense, and our defense kept us in it,” said Wyatt. “We were lucky to be down only 10 at the half. We stuck around long enough to make some shots. We got stops when we needed them, big stops. We count on playing good defense, and we need shots to fall more consistently.”

O’Brien started for Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, who is slowed by a sore knee, one game after Quenton DeCosey repaced Randall in the starting lineup. Dunphy said he would likely insert somebody new into the starting lineup for Saturday’s game against St. Bonaventure.

“I don’t want anyone to think they’re entitled,” said Dunphy.

After Wedensday’s amazing escape, there probably won’t be many players feeling that way.