DePaul vs. Temple 2016 final score: Blue Demons fall to Owls despite 2nd half surge

The DePaul Blue Demons went down to Miami’s American Airlines Arena on Saturday for the Hoophall Miami Invitational. Their play wasn’t quite Hall of Fame-caliber though as they lost 74-65 to the Temple Owls.

DePaul struggled out of the gate, missing their first eight field goals. This put them behind 13-1 to start the game. The Blue Demons had trouble keeping up with Temple’s offense in the first half. The Owls were able to space the floor with sound ball movement and made DePaul chase them around the floor.

The Blue Demon offense was stagnant for much of the game. DePaul didn’t record a single assist until 15:47 in the 2nd half and made their lone 3-pointer (on 14 attempts) at 8:41 in the same half.

Temple moved away from their crisp offense as the end of the game drew nearer. The Owls held a 63-38 advantage with 9:10 remaining in the 2nd half. DePaul began to chisel away from there, outscoring the Owls 27-11 the rest of the game. The Blue Demons got the margin as close as five on two occasions (68-63 and 70-65), but it wasn’t enough in the end.

Eli Cain led all scorers with 17 points. He also added seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals to his ledger. Billy Garrett Jr. pitched in 15 points in what was a rough day at the office. Garrett went 2-10 from the field, with 11 of his points coming from the free throw line. He also coughed up five turnovers in the game and fouled out with eight seconds left in the 2nd half.

Tre’Darius McCallum was scoreless in the first half, but eventually came around and added 10 points and eight rebounds to the cause. Brandon Cyrus went 0-6 in his start today, but pulled down six boards. Levi Cook did well off the bench, adding 6 points on 3-4 shooting and six rebounds.

Obi Enechionya and Shizz Alston, Jr. led Temple with 15 points each. Enechionya pulled down 8 rebounds in the process while Alston had 7. Josh Brown finished with 11 points, 5 assists, and 6 steals. Quinton Rose racked up 12 points coming off of the bench.

DePaul drops to 5-3 on the season. Their next game is Wednesday in Rosemont against UIC. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.