PHILADELPHIA — Mizzou Men's Basketball (5-4) knocked off the Temple Owls, 64-54, on the road at the Liacouras Center on Saturday night. The Tigers handed Temple (6-2) just its third loss at home since the start of the 2018-19 season.
Javon Pickett led Mizzou with a season-high 16 points off the bench, and scored seven of Mizzou's first 11 points.
The Tigers held Temple to under 10 points until the 9:30 mark in the first half. Redshirt juniors Mitchell Smith and Dru Smith nailed shots from beyond the arc punctuating a 10-2 run midway through the first half that give Mizzou early control of the game.
Mizzou went to the locker room at halftime with a 33-27 lead. The Owls opened the second half on a 12-2 run, but Mizzou's resilience prevented Temple from extending its lead, holding the deficit within six points.
Mizzou surged into the lead with clutch buckets down the stretch from sharpshooter Mark Smith and sophomore Xavier Pinson. Stingy defense, forced turnovers and consecutive stops helped head Cuonzo Martin’s squad seal the road victory in the final minutes.
Turning point
With four minutes remaining in the game, Mizzou forced back-to-back turnovers, with the latter resulting in a Jeremiah Tilmon, Jr. dunk. Two minutes later, Mark Smith drilled a deep 3-pointer to push Mizzou’s lead to five. Pinson followed with two tough finishes in the lane to wrap up the 64-54 victory.
Tilmon scored seven of his nine points in the final eight minutes, while Mizzou outscored Temple 13-2 in the final 4:09 of the game.
Up next
Mizzou returns home next Sunday, Dec. 15, to take on Southern Illinois at Mizzou Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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