PHILADELPHIA _ There's something about North Broad Street that eludes Wichita State.
For the second time since joining the American Athletic Conference, the Shockers traveled to Philadelphia ranked 16th in the country and for the second time Temple handed WSU an upset loss, this time a stunning 65-53 defeat on Wednesday at the Liacouras Center.
Temple (10-6, 2-3 AAC) snapped its three-game losing streak while also snapping the nation's second-longest road winning streak of eight games established by WSU. The Shockers (15-2, 3-1 AAC) also saw their nine-game winning streak end as they lost their first conference game.
WSU's shooting numbers told the story of the game: The Shockers shot 30.6% from the field, their lowest mark since their only other loss of the season, to West Virginia in Cancun, where they also shot 30.6%. WSU also tied its season-low with three three-pointers and shot its worst accuracy from deep (14.3%).
Senior center Jaime Echenique finished with a career-high 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting with a career-high 13 rebounds. Jamarius Burton added 16 points on 6 of 14 shooting, but the problem was that the rest of the Shockers shot just 13.9% (5 of 36).
After leading by six at halftime, WSU was listless in the second half and paid the price. The game swung early in the second half when WSU, which started the half with eight straight empty possessions, combusted and allowed Temple to score six points on a single possession.
It started when Dexter Dennis' pass was picked off by Quinton Rose, then Erik Stevenson wrapped up Rose and was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul. Rose made both free throws, then Monty Scott made a jumper when Temple got the ball back. During Scott's shot, WSU was called for a foul on the rebound, giving the Owls the ball back again that set up Nate Pierre-Louis for another jumper.
In a single possession, WSU went from up 32-31 to down 37-32 with 15:54 remaining.
WSU battled back behind Echenique, who scored back-to-back baskets midway through the second half to trim Temple's lead to 48-45 with 7:32 remaining. But that's as close as the Shockers would come.
Temple responded with a run of its own, a 7-0 spurt that established the only double-digit lead, 55-45, of the game with 4:26 remaining. Only then did WSU awaken from its slumber.
Echenique scored two straight baskets, then WSU forced a turnover and Burton made a pair of free throws to trim Temple's lead to 57-51 with 3:01 remaining. WSU had a possession to cut it even further, but Stevenson was whistled for traveling. WSU never came within six points after that.
WSU was punished for its worst 15 minutes of basketball since November. The Shockers missed 14 of their first 16 shots in the second half and had scored just nine points in nearly the first 12 minutes.
Temple remains just the third team in the American that the Shockers have yet to beat on the road. Temple erased a double-digit deficit against the 2017-18 Shockers and ultimately won 81-79 in overtime on Feb. 1, 2018.
While it wasn't a great first half from WSU, such a porous start to the second half could not have been predicted.
Burton established WSU's first meaningful lead of the game early when he swished back-to-back three-pointers for a 6-0 spurt that put the Shockers up 12-7. That lead grew to 17-9 after Dennis drilled a three of his own and Sherfield swiped a pass and finished at the other end with 13:13 remaining.
Echenique had his second straight outing, which started from the tip when he made his first two shots of the game. He finished with eight points and six rebounds in the first half with his best stretch coming midway through the half when he finished an offensive rebound putback, forced a turnover at the other end, then was fouled and made both free throws for 21-12 lead with 9:53 remaining.
But the Shockers never delivered the knockout blow in the first half. Temple rallied from nine down to within 22-20 with six minutes remaining. That's when Burton stepped up to steady the Shockers with back-to-back jumpers.
Burton, who had 12 points in the first half, was a calming presence on the floor for WSU and helped the Shockers recover to take a 32-26 lead into halftime, despite shooting just 37.5% from the floor. But WSU led thanks to a 6-1 offensive rebounding advantage and forcing Temple into 10 turnovers.
