Temple took over sole possession of first place in the American Athletic Conference with a 77-65 victory over visiting University of South Florida on Sunday afternoon at the Liacouras Center.

Temple, which won for a season-high fifth-straight time and for the eighth time in its last nine games, improved to 16-8 overall, but more importantly, 10-3 in the AAC, while USF fell to 5-21 and 2-11, losing for the fourth-straight time.

Temple was led by sophomore forward Obi Enechionyia and senior forward Jaylen Bond, who each scored a team-high 18 points. Bond added a game-high 14 rebounds. USF received a game-high 24 points from freshman guard Jahmal McMurray on 8-for-17 shooting, including a half-court buzzer-beater at the half.

With 2:04 left to play, Temple had its largest lead of the game, 77-61, on a layup by senior guard Devin Coleman.

Entering the game, the concern was whether or not Temple would be caught looking ahead at its showdown with Philadelphia rival and No. 1 Villanova visiting on Wednesday. But the Owls trailed just twice early, going into halftime ahead, 40-31. Temple was up by as much as 34-19 with 7:30 left in the half. At one point in the half, Temple made 13 of 16 shots, thought went 4 for 20 in the final seven minutes of the half. The Bulls held two leads, 2-0, and 4-3. A big issue was turnovers. USF turned the ball over seven times in the half, which Temple converted into seven points.