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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania -- After a furious comeback gave Temple men's basketball a one-point lead with 14 seconds remaining, the Owls came up just short in the end, falling 90-89 to Texas Southern (4-7) on Wednesday night. The Tigers' Aaric Murray scored 48 points to set both the Liacouras Center record and the record for most points scored by an opposing player against Temple.
Dalton Pepper rebounded a missed shot for the Owls (4-5) with one second remaining, but his shot at the buzzer was ruled too late after review.
Hitting 8-of-9 from the field, Temple's Quenton DeCosey scored a career-high 19 points to lead the Owls, who also had four other players finish in double figures. Anthony Lee scored 18, Will Cummings finished with 16, Pepper scored 14 and Daniel Dingle scored a career-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Pepper was not far off a triple-double, adding eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists to his 14 points.
In addition to his records set as a Temple opponent, Murray's 48 points are the most by any player in NCAA Division I so far this season.
Temple trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half before mounting a comeback down the stretch. Lee hit 2-of-2 at the line for an 89-88 Temple lead with 14 seconds remaining, but the Tigers' Madarious Gibbs was fouled at the other end after collecting an offensive rebound. He hit 2-of-2 as well, with seven seconds remaining, for the final margin.
The shooting percentages were impressive for both teams, particularly in the first half. Texas Southern shot 59 percent in the contest, while Temple hit at a 56 percent clip.
The first half was a high-scoring affair with a combined 87 points scored by the break. Both teams shot over 60 percent, with Texas Southern edging the Owls just slightly, 64 percent to 62 percent.
Murray had 21 first-half points for the Tigers, while DeCosey led Temple with 11 points, shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor.
Texas Southern jumped out to an early eight-point, 16-8 lead in the first five minutes, but it would be its largest lead of the half. Sparked by a three-pointer from Jimmy McDonnell, Temple used a 9-1 run to tie the game at 17-17 just past the 12-minute mark.
The Tigers went on to lead by six points on three more occasions, the final time at 32-26. The Owls then hit their next six shots in a row from the field to tie the game at 40-40. Texas Southern went back ahead by five before Pepper hit a buzzer-beating jumper to close the gap to 45-42 at halftime.
Murray scored on his first four field goal attempts of the second half, and the Tigers quickly increased a three-point halftime lead to 12, 58-46 at 16:19. They went on to lead by as many as 14, 63-49 at 14:34.
Near the midway point of the second half, an 8-2 run got the Owls within seven, 69-62 at 10:38, but Murray struck again with a three-pointer to get his team's lead back to double digits.
Trailing by seven, 78-71 with just under seven minutes remaining, Temple used a 13-5 run to come within a point, 83-82 with 1:20 remaining. The run was capped by a steal and fast break dunk for Pepper. The Tigers then went back ahead by six thanks to a pair of buckets from Murray over a 10-second stretch.
Cummings hit a falling-down three-pointer at 36 seconds to cut the deficit to three, and Dingle scored a putback at 16 seconds to bring Temple within a point, 88-87. He was fouled but missed the free throw, leading to an offensive rebound for Lee, who was fouled and hit two shots for the one-point lead.
Temple will have just two full days off before its next game, a 5:30 p.m. contest vs. Long Island at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Saturday, Dec. 21.
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