Cincinnati beats Temple on last-second jumper

Eyeing an upset of a nationally ranked team, Temple instead saw its frustration continue. Jacob Evans’ pull-up jumper with 0.4 seconds left gave Cincinnati a 55-53 win over Temple on  Thursday night at the Liacouras Center.

Temple’s Josh Brown had tight defense, but Evans made a clutch shot for the 19th-ranked Bearcats.

Cincinnati improved to 13-2 and 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference. Temple, which lost its fourth consecutive game, fell to 7-7, 0-3.

Temple extended its lead to 44-38 on a three-point play by freshman guard Nate Pierre-Louis with 9 minutes,  29 second left. On the play, Cincinnati’s 6-foot-9 senior Kyle Washington picked up his fourth foul and left the game. Washington, who began his career at North Carolina State, had scored 10 of Cincinnati’s first 12 second-half points and finished with 18 points.

Washington would return with Temple leading, 50-45, and 3:39 left.

Leading by 50-48, Temple’s Ernest Aflakpui was called for an offensive foul while setting an illegal screen. Coach Fran Dunphy received a technical and Cincinnati made one of two free throws. Washington then gave the Bearcats a 52-50 lead on a corner jumper with 1:59 left.

Still at 52-50, Aflakpui would foul out on a blocking foul, that came with just two seconds left on the  shot clock and 32.3 second remaining. Clark made 1 of 2 free throws, increasing the lead to 53-50. Temple’s Obi Enechionyia missed a three, the Owls Josh Brown got the offensive rebound and Alani Moore was fouled while taking a three-pointer with 18.7 seconds left. Moore made all three free throws to tie the score.

Evans then hit his game-winner and the Bearcats had escaped.

Temple had its best defensive half of the season in taking a 29-26 lead at intermission. Cincinnati came into the game averaging 80.9 points per game. Temple forced 13 first half turnovers and limited the Bearcats to 8 for 22 shooting (36.4 percent).

Enechionyia, who shot 4 for 22, including 0 for 11 from three-point range, in the Owls’ opening two AAC losses to Tulane and Houston, was a different player in the first half. He scored eight points and shot 3 of 5 from the field, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc. He would finish with a team-high 14 points.

The Bearcats are one of eight teams to appear in the NCAA tournament in each of the last seven seasons and this year that streak should extend to eight.

Cincinnati is a balanced scoring team with five players entering the game averaging between 9 and 14 points per game. The Bearcats make their mark on defense. They entered the game fourth national in scoring defense, allowing 59.1 points per game.

The first half lead was more impressive considering Temple leading scorer Quinton Rose, who entered the game averaging 16.5 points per game, was held scoreless.