WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State led by 10 at halftime, but was outscored by 16 in the second half and overtime, falling to Temple, 72-66, Sunday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State (11-17, 3-12) dropped to 0-2 this season in overtime games, both at home.
Wichita State took a 10-point lead into halftime behind 50 percent shooting, but the second half was a completely different story. The Shockers shot 27.6 percent from the field in the second half, allowing Temple to hang around. For the game Wichita State shot 38 percent from the field and just 4-of-13 from long range.
Free throws and rebounding were problem areas on Sunday. The Shockers gave up 22 offensive rebounds and were outrebounded, 52-44. Wichita State also struggled at the line, going 12-for-21.
Defensively, Wichita State held the Owls to 32 percent from the field and 4-of-17 from beyond the arc.
Xavier Bell scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, nearly singlehandedly keeping the Shockers in the game. The rest of the team was 4-for-22 from the field after halftime.
Kenny Pohto just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. Quincy Ballard and Harlond Beverly both added 10. Colby Rogers was held to seven points on 2-of-14 shooting.
A pair of alley-oop connections between Bijan Cortes and Ballard had the Charles Koch Arena fans on their feet early on, but it was Harlond Beverly’s effort play late in the half that really ignited the Shocker faithful. Beverly dove for an offensive rebound that shot out towards halfcourt, beating two Temple players to the ball. He was able to find a teammate who then found a wide-open Ronnie DeGray III in the corner for a three-pointer.
That kickstarted a 9-0 run to give Wichita State its largest lead just before halftime, 37-25. A Temple layup in the final minute made it 37-27 at the break.
An efficient first half saw Wichita State shoot 52 percent from the field with 24 of its 37 points coming in the paint. Another strong half from Pohto had him leading all scorers with nine points. Ballard added eight, six of them coming off highlight worthy dunks.
Temple came in as one of the worst shooting teams in the country and lived up to the billing in the first half, shooting just over 30 percent from the field and just 2-of-7 from beyond the arc.
The start of the second half was a different story, however. Wichita State missed 13 of its first 14 shots, allowing Temple to cut the lead to four, 41-37. Luckily the Owls were just as inefficient, missing 13 of their first 16 tries.
With 8:45 left, Temple tied it at 45 behind an 8-0 run.
Six straight from Wichita State made it 51-45 and would hold a lead until Temple fought back to tie the game at 58 with 2:26 to go.
A late-clock three-pointer from Bell with 1:21 to go looked like it might get the Shockers out of the game with a win. Temple would not go away, though. After going 1-of-2 at the line on the ensuing possession, Temple got a stop on the defensive end and came back down to tie the game at 61 on a Jordan Riley fastbreak layup with 18 seconds left.
Wichita State’s final possession of regulation resulted in an off-balance heave by DeGray just outside the paint, sending the game to overtime.
An offensive rebound putback for DeGray opened the scoring in OT, giving Wichita State a 63-61 lead, but that lasted all of 30 seconds. Temple would close the final 3:42 on an 11-3 run.
Up Next
Wichita State hits the road to Birmingham to face UAB Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
