Vanderbilt basketball takes down Temple in overtime thanks to hot shooting
Vanderbilt basketball played another back-and-forth game with Temple on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. Both teams led by double digits at various points, but in a surprisingly high-scoring contest, the Commodores notched their first win of the season, 89-87, in overtime as Liam Robbins got a block on the final 3-point attempt by the Owls.
"Obviously, the first two didn't turn out how we wanted them to," Robbins said. "But we came in with a mindset like, those two games, we didn't show our best selves, but we're gonna do it tonight."
Shots flew from deep all game as both teams made a high volume of their 3-pointers despite coming into the game on cold streaks. Temple's Damian Dunn scored 38. He and the Commodores' Myle Stute both had seven 3-pointers.
A Vanderbilt scoring drought of more than two minutes, combined with a Temple hot streak from deep as the clock wound down, allowed Temple to chip away at the lead before tying the game with 15 seconds left in regulation on a pair of free throws. The Commodores (1-2) thus avenged their overtime loss to the Owls (1-2) from last season.
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Overtime was another back-and-forth affair as Stute and Dunn continued their hot streaks from deep. Dunn gave Temple the lead with 38.6 seconds left in the extra period with a layup and one in transition. Vanderbilt responded with a jumper from Ezra Manjon to take the lead before Robbins got the final stop to end it.
The Commodores' veterans in Jordan Wright, Stute and Robbins combined for just 16 points in a loss to Southern Miss last Friday. But against the Owls, Stute scored 21, Robbins 20 and Wright 18 for the Commodores, notching a critical road win on the resume.
"Our older guys stepped up and provide the leadership that we've been looking for," coach Jerry Stackhouse said.
Sluggish start
As has been a theme this season, Vanderbilt started slowly. Temple made three 3-pointers to start the game and the Commodores were down by as many as 11 in the first half. Jerry Stackhouse's starting lineup of Ezra Manjon, Tyrin Lawrence, Jordan Wright, Myles Stute and Quentin Millora-Brown continued to struggle offensively.
An 8-0 run helped Vanderbilt rally later in the half, led by forward Emmanuel Ansong and center Liam Robbins.
The offense found a groove later in the half as the Commodores heated up from deep and Wright got going. That allowed Vanderbilt to go into halftime tied. The hot offensive streak continued through the second half as the team shot 50% from three and turned the ball over just nine times. Ten different players scored at least one point.
"I think (Robbins) was disappointed in his performance, as a number of guys were," Stackhouse said. "They were really down after the Southern Miss game, but wasn't a lot to be down about because it just felt like where we were and the team did some things to us to kind of get us out of kilter a little bit. But they responded."
Up and down defense
The Commodores' defense in the first half was poor, giving up 37 points and five 3-pointers. But that defense, generally the hallmark of this roster, locked down in the second half. Another 8-0 run in the second half was fueled by defense as Vanderbilt forced turnovers on three of four trips down the floor for Temple.
The Owls once again hit three 3-pointers in a row after the Commodores took a 13-point lead during the second half with two of those shots coming well beyond the arc. Another triple shortly after cut Vanderbilt's lead to five with five minutes left in regulation. The Commodores could not find any answers for Dunn's hot shooting but managed to work around it with an offensive outburst of their own.
Two other Temple players scored in double digits. Zach Hicks had 20 points and Jamil Reynolds had 15. But the rest of the lineup combined for 14 points total.
Shane Dezonie, who transferred to Temple from Vanderbilt in the offseason, was scoreless in two minutes.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball beats Temple in overtime with hot shooting
