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Quenton DeCosey, as usual, steps up for the Owls

SINCE 1952-53, Temple has finished only one season with just one double-figure scorer. That was in the mid-1990s, when Marc Jackson was that guy for a team that made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Temple's Quenton DeCosey.
Temple's Quenton DeCosey.Read more(Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)

SINCE 1952-53, Temple has finished only one season with just one double-figure scorer. That was in the mid-1990s, when Marc Jackson was that guy for a team that made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

It might happen again. Maybe even on both counts.

Senior guard Quenton DeCosey averages 16.5 points a game. Right now, nobody else on the Owls is over 9.8. DeCosey isn't the only reason they beat Connecticut, 63-58, on Thursday night at the Liacouras Center, in a game they might need to get into the only postseason field that really matters.

Redshirt junior Daniel Dingle scored a career-high 15, including four three-pointers in the second half, when Temple dug itself out of an 11-point hole in the final five minutes.

But when things were finally there to be won, it turned into DeCosey time. Good move.

The Owls have won games when junior lead guard Josh Brown made big shots, or senior Devin Coleman went nuts from the arc or junior forward Mark Williams came off the bench to have a career moment.

And for a team that has little margin for error, those contributions can't be mimimized. But neither can it be discounted that this group would never be where it is without its 6-5 import from Union, N.J.

The Owls were down two with just under two minutes left. On their previous possession, DeCosey had missed two close-in shots before Jalen Bond came up with the rebound and fed Dingle for his final trey. This time, it was Dingle who missed a contested one-hander from the right side of the lane. But once again Bond was able to knock the ball back to DeCosey, who made a 10-footer in the lane. They were his first points since he hit a foul-line fall-away that put Temple up two to close out the opening half.

After UConn went back in front on two free throws, it was DeCosey who put Temple ahead for keeps. He did it by banking one in over his head after getting hacked in the act. He added the foul shot at 1:10. Then he converted both ends of one-and-ones at 19.9 seconds and 13.9.

It's what marquee players do. And they don't shy away from those moments. Whatever happens, they relish it. It's part of their DNA. And every team needs one.

"Once we made the run, I definitely told myself this is my time," said DeCosey, the second-leading scorer in the American Conference, who finished with 23 points. "I wanted to take over, make plays and get the win."

Still . . .

"I don't know how that (last field goal) went in, at a big time in the game," he readily conceded. "I just threw something up there."

Coach Fran Dunphy sees all. And he knows what was going through DeCosey's head.

"He obviously (also) made a couple of plays (before that) . . . that weren't good," Dunphy pointed out. "But at the end, we try to get him the ball. He's a veteran. He has no fear.

"He thinks he's supposed to do all those things, and do them well."

The Owls are now 8-1 when he scores at least 20, 7-7 otherwise.

They've won four straight and seven of their last eight. They swept UConn, after sweeping Cincinnati and beating then-undefeated SMU in the teams' only meeting.

Last season, the Owls most likely were the best team not to get into the NCAAs. Last season, they had trouble beating any of the top teams in the AAC. Now they have a chance to go into the conference tourney as the top seed. The selection committee tends to notice that kind of stuff.

The Owls, who will get a shot at No. 1 Villanova in this building on Wednesday, after hosting South Florida on Sunday, have played nine games that were decided by six points or fewer. They won five. Three others went into overtime. They won two.

They still have a potentially hazardous road trip left, at Tulsa on Feb. 21, and at Houston two days later. Tulsa almost beat them here last week, and Houston did, by 27 on Jan. 2. So there are no guarantees, unless maybe they can knock off the Wildcats. They already have beaten three ranked teams. They haven't beaten the top team since 2000, at Cincinnati. They've never beaten one at home.

"I'm sure we're going to have more tough games," DeCosey said. "We're on a roll right now. We have to keep it going."

Maybe all the way to Selection Sunday and beyond.

"That's not how you want to live life, on the edge," Dunphy said. "We need everyone. Your turn could come."

He's right. But through it all, one ingredient has mostly been the constant.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

"Two years ago, (DeCosey) was known as a scorer," Dingle noted. "I believe he's grown. He's a leader. We depend on him to do a lot of things.

"And he shows up."

It makes a difference.

kernm@phillynews.com

@mikekerndn