Temple struggles to get past American, 40-37

WILL CUMMINGS said it was probably the third grade the last time his team put an offensive effort like last night's together and still won. He also said he'd never seen a zone quite like the one American threw at his Temple team.

But luckily for Cummings and the rest of the Owls, their opponents' scoring output was the just a little bit worse as Temple staved off a late surge from the Patriot League's defending champions and won, 40-37, at the Liacouras Center. Temple never trailed in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic opening game.

Temple's 40 points were its lowest amount in a victory since the Owls beat Penn State, 38-37, in February 1947.

American's zone caused havoc all night, leading to a dismal 11-for-48 (22.9 percent) performance for the Owls, including 5-for-19 from the arc. Cummings, Temple's senior point guard who played all 40 minutes, shot only 1-of-13 from the floor.

Cummings was asked whether he'd have been surprised if he knew beforehand that Temple would shoot this bad and still win.

"I would have said you might be right, because we've been working so hard on defense," he said. "That's the big emphasis that we've been putting on. I'm just really proud of these guys."

"[We're] very fortunate," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "This is really a good win for us, because we're trying to be better defensively. I thought we did just about everything we needed to do."

Temple, which led, 23-11, at the break, used a key 7-2 run over 6 minutes in the second half to put enough space between itself and the Eagles. A three-pointer from senior forward Jimmy McDonnell capped the run and put the Owls ahead, 39-28, with 3:24 to go.

"I don't know how that happened, to be honest with you," Dunphy said of the 11-point lead. "We were really stuck offensively. Thankfully, we guarded."

The Owls needed to guard at the end. Thanks to some errant shots on the offensive end and a couple of made baskets from American guard John Schoof, Temple had a one-possession lead and the ball in the Eagles' hands for the final possession of the game. An off-balance attempt from American guard Pee Wee Gardner missed off the front of the rim.

"It's just such a crazy game," Dunphy said. "You're in those games every once in a while, and, for us to wind up winning the game, I'm thrilled at that. Can we do better? Absolutely. Do we have to do better? Absolutely."

The Owls were led by 11 points apiece from Mark Williams and Daniel Dingle, who was playing in his first game since tearing his meniscus last season. Williams added nine rebounds.

The Owls continue with the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament Monday night at home against Louisiana Tech before traveling to Brooklyn's Barclays Center to take on No. 4 Duke next Friday.