UC Bearcats stumble at Temple, 61-58

Hayden Koval missed a last-second 3-pointer, and the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team fell 61-58 at Temple on Tuesday night.

The loss snapped the Bearcats' three-game winning streak and UC's winning streak against the Owls. Cincinnati had won nine straight against Temple dating back to  Dec. 28, 2016.

Jeremiah Davenport fouled out with the Bearcats (14-6, 4-3 American Athletic Conference) ahead 58-54 with 1:44 to play. Davenport, who led Cincinnati with a season-high 24 points in a 90-69 victory over Tulsa on Thursday, had just nine points on 3-of-14 shooting (2-for-10 from 3-point range) against the Owls.

Temple guard Jahlil White knocked down the second of two free throws to make it 58-55.

After a missed 3-pointer by David DeJulius, Damian Dunn knocked down a jumper with his foot on the 3-point line to make it 58-57 with 1:18 left.

After a held ball, Dunn knocked down a turnaround jumper over DeJulius to give Temple (11-6, 4-2) a 59-58 lead with 36 seconds left.

DeJulius was whistled for a foul on the play, and Dunn knocked the ensuing free throw to put Temple ahead 60-58.

Koval and DeJulius missed back-to-back jumpers, and Tai Strickland grabbed the defensive rebound before being fouled by Mika Adams-Woods with 14 seconds left.

Strickland knocked down the first of two free throws to give the Owls a 61-58 lead.

After Koval collected the defensive rebound with 12 seconds left, Cincinnati called a 30-second timeout to give UC head coach Wes Miller an opportunity to draw up the last shot. But Koval's 3-point attempt went begging and the Bearcats dropped their first game since losing 87-80 at Memphis on Jan. 9.

Cincinnati led 41-27 with 17:36 to play in the second half.

DeJulius scored a team-high 15 points, while John Newman III added nine points and nine rebounds.

Dunn led all scorers with 18 points – 13 scored in the second half – and knocked down a pair of free throws to put Temple ahead 52-51 with 4:13 to play. It was the first lead for the Owls since owning a 3-2 advantage early in the game.

The Bearcats went seven-plus minutes in the second half without making a field goal.

After taking a 14-10 lead with about 12 minutes to play in the first half, the Bearcats missed their next 10 shots.

Fortunately for Cincinnati, Temple, who took the floor for the first time in 13 days due to COVID-19 protocol issues with their last two opponents, also struggled from the floor.

Davenport missed his first eight field-goal attempts, including an 0-for-6 start from 3-point range. But the junior guard knocked down his first 3-pointer at the 7:32 mark to give the Bearcats a 19-14 lead.