WICHITA, Kan. – Tyson Etienne scored five of his 20 points in the final minute to lift Wichita State to a seesaw win over Temple, 70-67, Sunday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena.
Etienne’s three-point play with 42 seconds remaining provided the last of 20 lead changes – most since Charles Koch Arena’s 2003 renovation – and tied for the sixth-most in Shocker history (WSU’s archive of box score play-by-play dates back to 1975).
The sophomore was 4-of-8 from three and handed out five assists en route to his third-straight 20-point game.
Trey Wade (12 points), Morris Udeze (11 points, seven rebounds) and Dexter Dennis (10 points) also finished in double-figures.
WSU (11-4, 7-2 American) remains even in the loss column with first-place Houston (10-2) but needs to make up three more wins.
Redshirt freshman Damian Dunn made all 12 free throw attempts for 22 points to pace Temple (4-7, 3-7).
WSU shot 41.8 percent but made 9-of-21 threes and 15-of-18 foul shots.
The Shockers held Temple to 38.5 percent from the field, marking the eighth time in 15 games that they’ve held an opponent under 40 percent.
The Owls scored 40 of their 67 points in the paint but made just 3-of-19 shots from beyond the arc.
Following Etienne’s basket, Clarence Jackson drew a charge on Temple’s J.P. Moorman II with 25 seconds to go, and Alterique Gilbert made both ends of a 1-and-1 to push the lead to 68-64.
Dunn kept Temple’s hopes alive with a three-point play that pulled to Owls to within 68-67 with 18 seconds left.
Temple immediately fouled Etienne, but the sophomore made two more 1-and-1 free throws to get the lead back up to three.
The Owls grabbed three offensive rebounds on a wild possession that started with a missed three and was followed by two errant putbacks. Neither side could corral the last rebound, and Temple was awarded the ball out of bounds with 0.6 seconds on the clock.
Battle got off a quick shot for the buzzer to force overtime, but it rimmed out.
NOTABLE:
- Etienne has reached 20 points six times in WSU’s nine conference games.
- Etienne’s eight total 20-point games are tied with ECU’s Jayden Gardner for the league lead.
- WSU has won 10 of its last 12 games since a 1-2 start to the year.
- The Shockers extended their home winning streak to seven games.
- WSU has won nine-straight American Athletic Conference home contests dating back to last February.
- WSU improved to 5-3 against Temple (3-1 at home) since joining The American and narrowed the Owls’ all-time series lead to 6-5.
- The teams will meet again in Philadelphia in the final regular season game (Mar. 6, ESPN2).
- According to WSU’s archive of box score play-by-play, which goes back to 1975, Sunday’s game marked only the 11th time that a Shocker game has featured 20-or-more lead changes. Just five games have featured more.
MOST LEAD CHANGES (1975-Pr.):
31 – New Mexico State – Feb. 4, 1980 – W, 80-78
22 – at Indiana State – Jan. 2, 1993 – W, 73-69
22 – at Hawaii – Dec. 23, 2014 – W, 80-79 in OT
21 – at Oral Roberts – Dec. 12, 1988 – W, 92-91
21 – Illinois State – Jan. 4, 1995 – L, 82-83 in OT
20 – at Long Beach State – Dec. 4, 1979 – 72-77
20 – at Southern Illinois – Feb. 13, 1988 – W, 83-81
20 – Creighton – Feb. 25, 1991 – L, 54-65
20 – Temple – Feb. 7, 2021 – W, 70-67
20 – at Northern Arizona – Feb. 23, 2008 – L, 75-85
20 – Alabama – Dec. 4, 1990 – W, 74-71 in OT
UP NEXT:
After three-straight at home, the Shockers go back out on the road next week, starting Wednesday at UCF (6 p.m. CT, ESPN+). Sunday’s 3 p.m. CT game at SMU has been elevated from ESPN+ to ESPNU.
