DeCosey scores 30 as Temple tops South Florida

TAMPA, Fla. - Despite having only six available scholarship players, South Florida entered Sunday's contest against Temple on a two-game winning streak sparked primarily by grit and interior brawn.

But the Owls answered the Bulls' peskiness with Quenton DeCosey's proficiency.

The 6-foot-5 senior scored 20 of his career-best 30 points in the first half as Temple (12-8, 6-3 American) escaped the Sun Dome with a 70-63 victory before an announced crowd of 2,875.

DeCosey "was great," said Owls coach Fran Dunphy, whose 515th career triumph left him two shy of surpassing predecessor John Chaney as the winningest coach in Big Five history. "You sit back and you say, 'Where would we be without him today?' I thought he was terrific in that first half."

His final moments weren't shabby, either. DeCosey hit four free throws in the final 19.9 seconds to seal things for the Owls, who otherwise went 2 for 8 from the line in the last 1 minute, 13 seconds.

Before that, USF had nearly rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit despite a seven-player rotation. South Florida, which started a pair of 6-foot-11 post players, finished with a 38-26 rebounding advantage that included 10 offensive boards.

The Bulls (5-18, 2-8) trimmed their deficit to 61-56 when senior Angel Nunez drove the lane for a layup with 2:30 to play, but Owls senior Devin Coleman hit a trey from the top of the key 27 seconds later. It was Temple's last field goal.

"That was a crucial possession," Nunez said.

"We had a 15-point lead at one point and then just didn't do a very good job of defending, nor did we do a very good job of running our offense, so our efficiency was not where it needed to be," Dunphy said. "But I give South Florida a lot of that credit."

As for the opening half, DeCosey owned most of it. He went 3 for 4 from three-point range and 7 for 9 from the free-throw line in the first 20 minutes, which ended with Temple holding only a 35-31 lead.

Criticized by Dunphy for not aggressively attacking the Bulls' 2-3 zone, the rest of the Owls roster finished the half 1 for 10 from long range while USF outrebounded Temple, 20-9. At halftime, South Florida's Ruben Guerrero and Jaleel Cousins had more combined rebounds (11) than Temple.

"I thought we allowed [Guerrero and Cousins] to hurt us on second-chance opportunities and a couple of times on drives to the rim as well," Dunphy said. "We should've done a better job than we did."

But the Owls opened the second half with a 17-6 run, sparked by sophomore Obi Enechionyia's two treys, to take a 52-37 lead. Temple hit 7 of 10 field goals at one point during the stretch, including three three-pointers.

"They made two contested jumpers, they started hitting their threes," Nunez said. "They got an open look, their bigs started finishing around the rim, and they just got a little momentum going that just snowballed a little before we started chipping away at it."