Nic Moore made two big shots down the stretch and finished with 10 points for SMU (13-4, 4-1 AAC), while Ryan Manuel chipped in 10 points as well. Kennedy, a Philadelphia native, shot 9-of-11 and also pulled down seven boards for the Mustangs, who scored 32 of the final 46 points.
Jesse Morgan paced Temple (12-6, 3-2) with 15 points. Quenton DeCosey added 13 points and Devin Coleman notched 10 in a reserve role for the Owls, who shot 7-of-12 from the foul line, compared to 14-of-16 for the Mustangs.The teams jockeyed back and forth for most of the first half before Temple went on a late 10-0 run - five points by Coleman - to take a 33-26 lead into the break. The Owls led by as many as 13 early in the second half before Kennedy scored seven straight SMU points to help his team eventually get within 49-48 with five minutes left.
Moore's jumper with 2:04 remaining put the visitors ahead 52-51 - their first lead since 24-23 - and Moore added a 3-pointer on the next trip to make it 55-52. DeCosey missed a 3-pointer on the other end before Moore misfired from long range, but Sterling Brown saved the ball behind his back, right to Kennedy, who slammed with 39 ticks remaining to seal the Owls' fate.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Kennedy, who averaged 12.4 points as a freshman, came in averaging 8.2 points in six games since becoming eligible this season. … Moore's go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:15 remaining was the first 3 for the Mustangs since he drained a long-range shot 2 1/2 minutes into the game. SMU finished 2-of-10 from 3-point range. ... Moore added five assists and five rebounds but had seven of his team's 16 turnovers.
Southern Methodist | Temple | |
Markus Kennedy 21 | Scoring | Jesse Morgan 15 |
Nic Moore 5 | Assists | Will Cummings 5 |
Markus Kennedy 7 | Rebounds | Jaylen Bond 7 |
Ryan Manuel 4 | Free Throws Made | Quenton DeCosey 4 |
Ryan Manuel 2 | Steals | Josh Brown 3 |
Sterling Brown 1 | Blocks | Obi Enechionyia 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Southern Methodist | 60 | 47.8 | 2-10 | 14-16 | 13 | 30 | 1 | 6 | 16 |
Temple | 55 | 40.8 | 8-26 | 7-12 | 14 | 23 | 1 | 10 | 12 |