Temple defense smothers Tulane

The first-half Temple defense was simply smothering. It was also record-setting in a hard-to-believe opening 20 minutes.

While the offense still is inconsistent, if Temple can maintain the defensive effort it gave in a 55-37 American Athletic Conference win over Tulane on Saturday at the Liacouras Center, then the Owls will make a serious run at an NCAA berth.

Tulane's 37 points tied the lowest total this season by a Temple opponent, matching American in a 40-37, season-opening Owls win, and marked the first time since the 1993-94 season that Temple had held two opponents under 40 points.

Temple (15-7, 6-3 AAC) has won three in a row. Granted, the three teams - Tulane, South Florida, and Central Florida - are not upper-echelon, but the Owls are in no position to withstand upset losses.

The first half was a sight to see, unless you are a Tulane fan: Temple led, 28-8, at intermission.

It was the lowest one-half total for a Temple foe at the Liacouras Center, which opened in November 1997. The previous low was nine, by Massachusetts in the first half on Feb. 1, 2006.

"Our first-half defense was incredible," said Quenton DeCosey, who scored a game-high 17 points and hit two threes that got Temple off to a 12-0 lead. "Everybody did a good job locking down on defense, and we were getting three, four stops in a row."

Tulane (13-9, 4-6) had lost a 64-56 home decision to Temple on Jan. 7. In that game, the Green Wave led Temple, 29-27, at halftime.

"We gave up, I think, 13 points on out-of-bounds plays underneath in that first half," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. This time, "we didn't give any baskets on out-of-bounds plays, initially."

On Saturday, Tulane shot 3 for 24 in the first half and 0 for 7 from three-point range. Temple blocked five first-half shots and forced nine turnovers. None of the Tulane starters scored a first-half point.

Trailing by 25 points early in the second half, Tulane cut the margin to 33-20 with a little more than 14 minutes left.

Then Temple went on a 6-0 run, with freshman forward Obi Enechionyia scoring four points, and the Owls assumed control. Enechionyia provided a major spark, coming off the bench to score 12 points while contributing three of Temple's nine blocked shots.