The Owls got their first win of the season and advanced past Minnesota 75-70 in the first round of the Puerto Rican ClassicThursday afternoon, thanks to some stellar three-point shooting and 19 points from senior captain Jaylen Bond. After blowing two nine-point leads, Temple overcame a ferocious comeback from the Gophers to hang on by making key free throws down the stretch.
Bond, who also nabbed eight boards, converted one of the Owls ten successful three point attempts in 22 tries (a 45.5 percentage from downtown).
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Devin Coleman andObi Enechionyiaeach had three trays apiece and scored 15 and 14 points respectively in the win.
The Owls advance to the second round of amid an eight-team field and will play at 1 p.m. (on either ESPNU or ESPN2) against the winner of Butler and Missouri State.
Freshman Trey Lowe (nine points) and senior Quenton DeCosey (12 points) each had noteworthy performances as well.
Temple basketball wins first of the year, advances in Puerto Rican Classic
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