PHILADELPHIA _ Ernest Aflakpui held his ground and in turn Temple knocked Houston from the unbeaten ranks. Aflakpui took a charge on a drive from Houston's leading scorer Corey Davis Jr. with 0.6 seconds left to preserve Temple's 73-69 win over the No. 17 Cougars in an American Athletic Conference game at the Liacouras Center on Wednesday night.
Houston was trailing 71-69, and had the ball with 7.3 seconds left. Davis drove the lane and the 6-foot-10 Aflakpui, known for drawing charging fouls, made arguably his biggest play of the season.
Houston fouled Nate Pierre-Louis, who made two free throws to round out the scoring.
Temple is now 12-3 and 2-1 in the AAC while Houston is now 15-1, 2-1.
Quinton Rose led Temple with 22 points, while Pierre-Louis had 18 and Shizz Alston contributed 12.
Houston's 6-8 senior Breaon Brady, who entered the game averaging 6.6 points, scored a team-high 19.
Temple, which led 62-54 with 8 minutes, 36 seconds to play after an Alston jumper, saw Houston cut the lead to 67-66 on a layup by Brady with 1:55 left. The Owls then extended the lead to 71-66 on two free throws by Pierre-Louis and a dunk by Rose.
Houston made it 71-69 on Davis' 3-pointer with 37 second remaining.
Temple then had a shot clock violation, giving the Cougars the ball with 7.3 seconds left and setting the stage for Aflakpui's defensive play. Aflakpui finished with six points and seven rebounds.
Temple led by 39-32 at halftime despite leading scorer Alston scoring just six point son 1 for 6 shooting. Rose had a breakout half with 14 points. It was the 10th straight game that Rose has scored in double figures.
Temple junior guard Alani Moore suffered a left ankle injury in the first half and didn't return.
