Second-half surge leads Temple past East Carolina

After a lackluster first half in which Temple was fortunate to be down by just five points, Quenton DeCosey put the Owls on his back.

DeCosey scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half as Temple defeated East Carolina, 78-60, in an American Athletic Conference game Saturday night at the Liacouras Center.

It matched DeCosey's season high, when he scored 24 points in a loss to Butler, and was four shy of his career high.

Devin Coleman, who came off the bench for the second straight game after starting the first 12, added 17 points for Temple. He has scored 31 points in his two games as a reserve and likely will stay in that role for the spark he is giving off the bench.

Point guard Josh Brown had 12 points, eight assists, and no turnovers; Jaylen Bond added nine points and 12 rebounds; and Obi Enechionyia came off the bench to score 10 points after totaling 19 in his previous four games.

DeCosey came out firing in the second half, scoring 12 of Temple's first 15 points, all on three-pointers.

"Especially in the second half, my shot was feeling good," DeCosey said. "My teammates did a good job finding me."

The first half was a different story.

"I don't think he [DeCosey] played all that well in the first half," coach Fran Dunphy said. "I thought he was spectacular in the second half."

The last time the Owls were at the Liacouras Center, they were routed last Saturday by Houston, 77-50. That game was sandwiched by road wins over two ranked teams, Cincinnati and Connecticut.

The Owls were intent on not suffering a letdown after Tuesday's 55-53 win at UConn.

Temple is 8-6 overall and 3-1 in the AAC. ECU fell to 8-8, 0-3.

Trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half and facing a 38-33 deficit at intermission, Temple scored the first nine points of the second half.

With the scored tied at 50, Temple finally broke the game open, going on a 21-4 run.

The second half was an extension of the final play of the first half when Coleman hit a three at the buzzer to cut the lead to five.

"I thought that was the biggest play of the game," Dunphy said.

So did Coleman.

"The one at end seemed like it gave us energy in the second half," Coleman said. "That was great we got momentum that carried in the second half and were able to blow the game open."

mnarducci@phillynews.com

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