BOX SCORE
In their 30th and final Atlantic 10 home opener, the Temple Owls, despite some poor second-half shooting, held on to down the Saint Louis Billikens, 64-54, Saturday night at the Liacouras Center.
Led by Khalif Wyatt's 24 points and Anthony Lee's 20, Temple won its sixth straight A-10 opener and 23rd in 30 years.
For Saint Louis, the loss ended a nine-game winning streak, the program's longest since 1993-94, and dropped the Billikens to 12-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
Saint Louis entered the game having played just three games away from its home floor, Chaifetz Arena, and only one true road game, a 66-61 loss at Washington.
Turning point
After leading by eight at the break and as many as 11 in the first half, Temple saw its lead dwindle to as little as four with 7:45, 3:10, 2:06 and 38 seconds to play.
But with less than two minutes to go, Wyatt drove right, nearly lost control of the ball near the baseline, caught it above his head, brought it back down, and managed to hit Lee, who made a lay-in to put Temple up six, 56-50. Saint Louis coach Jim Crews wanted a traveling call, he didn't get it, and the Billikens never did get any closer than four in the game's final 28 minutes and 45 seconds.
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Wyatt also hit an off-balance (go figure) three with 2:19 to go to preserve what was a fragile Temple lead. He drew contact in the air in the corner, didn't get the call, and somehow still made the leaner.
BMOC
Wyatt's 24 points on 7-for-11 shooting gave him his fifth performance of 20 or more points this season.
Lee recorded his third double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Saint Louis' Dwayne Evans led all rebounders with 13.
Inside the box score
Temple went an impressive 13 for 24 (54.2 percent) in the first half but started the second half 2 of 12 and then just 5 of 17. The Owls finished 23 of 48 (47.9 percent) from the floor.
Saint Louis made only 4 of its 21 attempts from three for a season-worst 19 percent.
Wyatt, who came into the game shooting 85.3 percent from the line, had his streak of 32 consecutive made free throws snapped when he missed three in a row in the first half. He hadn't missed a foul shot in four games, dating back to Temple's loss to Canisius on Dec. 19. He finished 7-for-10 from the line.
Temple freshman Quenton DeCosey started in place of fifth-year senior Scootie Randall, who's shot just 28.4 percent from the floor in his last nine games. Dunphy told Randall that DeCosey would start, and then had Scootie deliver the news to Quenton.
Randall finished 1-for-7 for three points in 32 minutes. DeCosey played 10 minutes in the first half and never saw the floor in the second.
Up next
Temple will head South down I-95 for a meeting with George Washington this Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. Saint Louis is off until next Saturday when it returns home to host Rhode Island.
E-mail Nick Menta at nmenta@comcastsportsnet.com