PHILADELPHIA — Temple pulled away in the second half for a 90-73 American Athletic Conference win over East Carolina at the Liacouras Center on Wednesday night.
A 3-pointer by Pirate freshman Shawn Williams tied the score at 44 with 17;47 left. A 12-0 run extended the Owls’ lead from 51-50 to 63-50.
“That was a huge point in the game; a breaking point for us,” said interim ECU coach Michael Perry. “I thought fatigue took its toll on us during that stretch. We didn’t have a lot of bodies we could turn to in terms of being able to (rest) these guys.
“Our guys really struggled through that stretch and fatigue really played a part in it.”
Kentrell Barkley led the Pirates (9-14, 3-9 AAC) with 20 points and nine rebounds. Barkley made seven of 14 from the floor, including four of eight from beyond the arc.
Isaac Flerming had 17 points for ECU on eight of 17 shooting. Fleming also had nine rebounds and four assists. Williams scored 13 points and B.J. Tyson finished with 12 points.
K.J. Davis had six rebounds for the Pirates.
Quinton Rose had 23 points for Temple (14-10, 6-6).
There was a significant disparity at the free throw line where the Owls went 20 of 26 while ECU was five for eight. The Owls committed just five turnovers while the Pirates had 10.
ECU doesn’t play again until Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Tulane.
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