PHILADELPHIA – Host Temple’s smothering defense put a stop to No. 16/16 Wichita State’s nine-game winning streak, 65-53, on Wednesday night inside the Liacouras Center.
Jaime Echenique recorded season-highs with 20 points and 13 rebounds to go with 16 points from Jamarius Burton, but it wasn’t enough.
Wichita State (15-2, 3-1 American) suffered its first defeat since Nov. 27 and lost on the road for the first time since Feb. 17, 2019. The Shockers’ eight-game true road winning streak had been the nation’s second longest coming into the day.
Quinton Rose scored 19 points to lead Temple (10-6, 2-3). Jake Forrester and Monty Scott added 11-each to go with Nate Pierre-Louis’ eight points and team-high 12 boards.
The Shockers led by six at halftime, 32-26, but managed just five points in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Temple opened the period with an 11-0 run and played from in front the rest of the night.
The Shockers shot 30.2 percent for the game, including 3-of-21 from distance. They missed all 10 three-point tries in the second half.
Temple shot 45.7 percent and outscored WSU 20-12 at the charity stripe.
Wichita State forced 20 Temple turnovers and limited the hosts to five offensive rebounds, outscoring the Owls 12-2 on second-chances.
NOTABLE:
Temple now leads the all-time series 6-3 (2-0 in Philadelphia).
The schools have split six American Era matchups. The winning team has trailed at halftime in five of those games. The lone exception was the 2018 AAC quarterfinal when the Shockers led 42-36 at halftime and went on to win 89-81.
The Shocker loss creates a four-way tie atop the American Athletic Conference standings between WSU, Tulsa, Houston and Cincinnati. All four teams are 3-1. A fifth one-loss team, Memphis (2-1), faces Cincinnati on Thursday night.
UP NEXT:
The Shockers return home Saturday to face [rv/rv] Houston at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN2.