by WICHITA, Kan. – The Temple Owls outscored Wichita State in overtime, 11-7, to earn an 85-81 victory over the Shockers in an American Athletic Conference game played before a sellout crowd of 10,506 on Sunday, Jan. 6, inside Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State (7-7, 0-2 American) is slated to play at 19th-ranked Houston on Saturday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m.
Senior Markis McDuffie scored a game-high 24 points on 7-for-17 shooting, and went 7-of-8 at the foul line to lead WSU. Samajae Haynes-Jones (22 points), Dexter Dennis (14 points) and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler (12 points) also reached double figures in the contest, with Poor Bear-Chandler (Oglala Lakota) tying his career-best for the second straight game.
Ricky Torres paced Wichita State on the glass, snagging a game-high eight rebounds.
The Shockers and Owls (11-3, 1-1 American) were locked in an 8-8 tie with just under 17 minutes remaining in the first-half until a Dennis layup ignited a 7-0 Wichita State run, giving WSU a 15-8 advantage after Jamarius Burton converted a layup with 15:23 to go in the stanza.
Temple trimmed the lead to 15-13 after a Shizz Alston, Jr. three-pointer with 14 minutes remaining, but the Shockers scored 12 of the next 14 points, gaining a 27-15 advantage after McDuffie drilled a shot from downtown with 10:23 to go in the opening frame.
The Owls cut the advantage to 39-30 when Alston Jr. made a couple of free-throws, but Wichita State netted six of the final eight points of the half, taking a 45-32 lead into halftime.
McDuffie led WSU in the opening stanza, scoring a game-high 16 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor and a perfect 6-of-6 effort at the free-throw line, while Poor Bear-Chandler pulled down a team-best five rebounds.
The Shockers shot a scorching 57 percent from the field, going 16-of-28, and outrebounded Temple in the first-half, 24-9.
Temple opened the second-half with an 11-1 run, trimming the Wichita State lead to 53-52 after a Quinton Rose layup with 12:22 to go.
After the Owls knotted the game, 63-63, with 7:14 remaining, the Shockers surged offensively and went on a 10-0 run from 6:55 to 3:35, taking a 74-63 lead after a McDuffie three.
Temple didn’t back down, however, and scored the final 11 points in the stanza to tie the game, 74-74, after an Alston, Jr. layup with 37 seconds to go. WSU had one attempt to win the contest in regulation, but Dennis’ three-pointer with four seconds on the clock was off-target, sending the game to overtime.
After Poor Bear-Chandler gave the Shockers a 76-74 advantage with a layup 30 seconds into overtime, the Owls netted the next four points to gain a 78-74 lead after a Nate Pierre-Louis layup with 2:39 to go in the extra frame.
The Shockers would pull within one point of the lead twice, but couldn’t get any closer.
Alston, Jr. scored 22 points to lead Temple, while Pierre-Louis added 21 points and pulled down a team-high seven boards, respectively.
For the game, Wichita State shot 49 percent from the field (31-of-63), 27 percent from three-point range (6-for-22) and 77 percent at the free-throw line (13-of-17).
The Shockers outrebounded the Owls, 41-34, but committed 21 turnovers compared to just 11 for Temple.
