They trailed for the majority of the contest, were down five points with four minutes to play, trailed by three with less than two minutes to play, waited until the next-to-last minute, and then decided to win.
It was as hairy as any of their several hairy home wins this season, but the Temple Owls just managed to move past Detroit in an 83-78 win Thursday night at the Liacouras Center.
The game -- originally scheduled for Dec. 28 as part of the five-team Gotham Classic with Syracuse, Alcorn State and Canisius -- was postponed when Detroit couldn't make it to Philadelphia thanks to a snow storm in the Midwest.
With the win, Temple improves to 20-8 overall, finishes the out-of-conference round robin 3-1, and ties a program record with six consecutive 20-win seasons.
Turning point
Temple took an early 4-2 lead but would not retake it for another 27:25.
Down eight at the half and as many as 11 in the first, Temple finally pulled ahead, 53-51, with 10:26 to play in the second half on a Khalif Wyatt three-pointer. From that point on, the lead changed hands five times, and no team led by more than five.
With 1:44 to play and Temple down three, senior point guard T.J. DiLeo stole an inbounds pass at halfcourt and hit Wyatt for a pull-up, banked-in three to tie the game. Wyatt buried another three on Temple's next possession to give the Owls a 77-74 lead with 1:04 remaining.
After a defensive stop, Wyatt dribbled the ball off his foot and would have turned it over if not for a diving Scootie Randall, who kept the ball alive, allowed Wyatt to reclaim it, get fouled and go to the free throw line.
Detroit never got any closer than three points again.
B.M.O.C.
Wyatt did not score in the first half and had all of his team-high 20 points in the second. His final free throw moved him ahead of Lavoy Allen on the all-time Temple scoring list, putting him in 24th place with 1,422 points.
Randall and Jake O'Brien put on contrasting displays in efficiency. O'Brien was a perfect 6 for 6 from the floor for 16 points. His only misses came from the foul line. Randall, on the other hand, outscored him with 18, but did so on 6-for-15 shooting, going 4 of 12 from three.
Owls forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson finished with his fifth career double-double on 13 points and 12 rebounds. It's the the third time in his last four games he's pulled down double-digit rebounds.
Inside the box score
• Temple shot an unconscionable 15 threes in the first half, making just three of them. Randall was 2 of 8 from three by himself.
• For Detroit, four players -- Ray McCallum, Jason Calliste, Doug Anderson, and Nick Minnerath -- finished with at least 15. Only two other Titans even scored, those two -- Evan Bruinsma and P.J. Boutie -- combined for Detroit's six bench points.
Up next
Temple has just one day off before returning to the Liacouras Center on Saturday at 2 p.m. to face Rhode Island (8-18, 3-10). It's also Hooter the Owl's birthday.