CHARLESTON, S.C. – After trailing by 19 early in the second half, the Old Dominion men’s basketball team (2-1, 0-0 C-USA) rallied back to make it a one-point game, but would get no closer as the Monarchs dropped its first game of the season by a 76-65 score to Temple (1-0, 0-0 AAC) in the Quarterfinals of the Gildan Charleston Classic on Thursday afternoon on John Kresse Court at TD Arena.
After trailing by 19, 48-29, with 19:40 to play in the second half, the Monarchs went on a 24-6 run to pull within one, 54-53 with 9:10 remaining in regulation.
The Owls later held a six-point lead, 67-61, with 3:26 left, before ODU scored four straight and pulled within two, 67-65, at the 2:10 mark. Temple would ultimately close the game on a 9-0 run, claiming a 76-65 victory.
Xavier Green scored a career-high 15 points to lead four Monarchs in double-figures. Trey Porter finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks, while Aaron Carver scored a career-high 11 points and hauled down a career-high seven rebounds. Also in double-figures for ODU was Randy Haynes, who had 10 points and a game-high three steals. Ahmad Caver dished out a game-high six assists.
For the game, Old Dominion held advantages for bench points (29-7), points in the paint (34-20) and points off turnovers (17-10). For the second half, ODU held the Owls to 28.6% (6-21) shooting from the floor and 28.6% (2-7) shooting from thee-point range.
Temple’s Shizz Alston Jr. led all scorers with 23, while teammate Quinton Rose followed with 20 points.
Temple connected on five of its first seven three-point attempts (71%), claiming a 23-9 advantage at the 11:40 mark of the first half. The Monarchs pulled with four, 27-23, at the 6:49 mark, but Temple answered back with a 19-6 run to end the first half, claiming a 46-29 lead behind a half high 14 points (5-6 FG, 4-4 3PT) from Shizz Alston Jr. Xavier Green paced the Monarchs with 11 points on 3-5 shooting from deep in the opening 20 minutes. For the half, the Owls shot 51.5% (17-33) from the floor and 66.7% (8-12) from thee-point range.
Old Dominion will be right back in action tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m. EST against Indiana State. The game will air on ESPNU, as well as ESPN3.