Cameron Reynolds Scores Career-High 29 Points in Men's Basketball's Setback to Temple

Tuesday, January 31

Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse

7 p.m. CT

Tulane University

4-18, 1-9AAC

Temple

12-11, 3-7AAC

Temple

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Cameron Reynolds Scores Career-High 29 Points in Men's Basketball's Setback to Temple

Jan 31, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery Box Score (PDF)

NEW ORLEANS – Cameron Reynolds scored 18 of his career-high 29 points in the second-half, but the Tulane men's basketball team suffered a 79-71 home defeat to Temple in American Athletic Conference action Tuesday night at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

Reynolds shot 11-for-22 overall and tied for a game-high with nine rebounds, while Ryan Smith compiled 11 points, six boards and three assists. Malik Morgan added 10 points, as Sammis Reyes contributed a personal-best nine points on 4-for-5 shooting in 22 minutes off the bench to complement seven grabs off the glass.

Temple (12-11, 3-7 AAC) placed four scorers in double-figures, led by Quinton Rose's 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Shizz Alston put up 15 points and six boards, as Mark Williams and Obi Enechionya tacked on 13 points apiece.

"It's disappointing when we lose at home, in particular when we feel like the team is getting better and the expectations keep rising," Head Coach Mike Dunleavy, Sr., said. "We started out the game playing really well, and came out of the box again, which is something that we are trying to do. Then we run into parts of our game where we have a hard time scoring the ball."

The Green Wave started hot from the field, making six of its first 10 shots behind three baskets by Smith, to jump out to an early 13-6 lead just over five minutes into the game. The Owls responded with an 11-3 scoring run to jump ahead, 17-16, with 11:36 to go, but the home team countered with an 8-1 counterpunch to take a six-point advantage with less than nine minutes to go.

Temple chipped away at its deficit and eventually jumped back in front, 28-26, with under five minutes remaining, but Tulane (4-18, 1-9 AAC) finished a handful of baskets in the paint and was able to draw even at 34 when the halftime horn sounded.

Both teams made 15 field goals, including a trio of respective three-pointers, while Tulane owned an impressive 22-13 rebounding advantage in the first half. The Wave also outscored the Owls, 18-12, in the paint and 16-8 on second-chance baskets in the period.

Temple used perimeter ball movement to start the second half and pulled in front, 45-38, at the first media stoppage with 15:38 left. The Owls extended the margin to double digits for the first time when an Alston three with 12:33 on the clock pushed the advantage to 56-46, before the lead grew to as many as 13 with the score 67-54 and under seven minutes to go.

Tulane flipped the momentum from that point, exploding for 12-3 run over the subsequent three-and-a-half minutes, capped by a Reynolds trey cut deficit to three, 69-66, as Temple called timeout with 3:18 remaining.

Colin Slater drew a charge to put the ball back in his team's hands with a chance to tie the game, but the Owls came up with several stops, sunk their free throws in the waning minutes and held on the for eight-point victory.

The Green Wave outscored Temple, 34-22, in the paint, 15-11 off turnovers and 20-13 on second chances while owning a 36-33 margin on the glass, but Temple scored 31 points off the bench to the Wave's 14.

"We play hard, but we let them shoot too high of a percentage from the field and I thought that our turnovers really hurt us because they were not forced," Dunleavy said. "We had a bunch of travels and a bunch of moving screens. If you give those kinds of possessions away versus when you are getting trapped and double-teamed, it's hard to take at times."

Tulane will conclude a stretch of four road games in six contests when it travels to Greenville, N.C., to face East Carolina on Saturday, Feb. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. (CT) at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum, and the game will be televised on American Sports Network with streaming available on the WatchESPN app.