Phila., Pa. (De. 22, 2021) --- Delaware State trailed by just a point after 17 minutes of the game, but was overmatched in the second half of an 85-48 men's basketball loss to Temple at the Liacouris Center this afternoon.
Zach Hicks led the Owls with a game-high 35 points on 12-for-18 shooting from the field, including 10-of -16 on three point shots. Damian Dunn added 18 points for Temple, which improved to 7-5 this season.
The Hornets dropped their ninth game in a row to fall to 2-11.
Myles Carter, playing in his home town of Philadelphia, was high scorer for Delaware State with 19 points. Carter also grabbed nine rebounds to lead all players.
Zach Kent, playing in just his fourth game of the season, added 12 points for the Hornets, his most since returning to action after missing the first nine game while recovering from a foot injury.
John Stansbury also reached double-figures in scoring for DSU with a season-high 11 points in his third game this year.
Delaware State gave Temple all it could handle early in the game, opening up four first-half leads.  The Hornets pulled ahead 7-5 on a three-pointer by Stansbury five minutes into the contest.
After Temple pulled ahead 14-9, Kent scored the next five points on a shot in the lane and a three-pointer to tie the score at 14-14 with nine minutes to go in the opening half.
The Owls rebounded with a 10-4 run to open up a 24-18 lead, but the Hornets scored seven of the next nine points, and pulled to within 26-25 after a basket by Stansbury with 2:32 to go before halftime.
Temple scored the last nine points of the half to lead 35-25 at the break.
The teams played even for the first four minutes of the second half.
DSU's D'Marco Baucum kept the Owls' lead at 10 (44-34) after a bucket with 16:03 left to play.
The Hornets still only trailed 54-41 when Carter scored off a Temple turnover with 12:33 left, but the Owls answered with a 19-0 run to blow the game open.  Hicks, who scored 13 points during the run, capped off the spurt with a three-ball to give Temple a 73-41 lead with 7:18 left to play.     
Delaware State could get no closer than 29 the rest of the way.
The Hornets were 20 for 62 from the field in the game (32.3%), including four of 18 (22.2%) from beyond the arc.
DSU is idle for the next week. The Hornets will return to action on Dec. 29 at Penn State. Game time is set for 6:00 p.m. in University Park, Pa.
STINGERS
Carter surpassed the 800 point mark for his career in the game (813) … freshman point guard Corey Perkins returned to action for the Hornets after missing the previous two games, leading all players with seven assists in his return … The Hornets played with second leading scorer Dom Fragala (13.9 ppg), who is nursing an ankle injury.