Walter Herriott drained a short jumper with 4.3 seconds remaining to lift the Temple men over Trinity Valley 95-93, Saturday night in the season opener for both teams.
The Leopards grabbed the early lead and stayed on top until the Cardinals knotted things at 89-89 with 1:30 to go.
The two teams traded buckets down the stretch. Dekyron Nicks knocked down a 15-footer for Temple and Edjuan Green scored on a follow for the Leopards that tied the game at 93-93 with 21 seconds on the clock.
“They called a timeout after we scored and we talked about playing tough defense and forcing them to settle for a long jump shot,” Temple coach Kirby Johnson said. “We also said that if they missed and we got the rebound, we didn’t want to call a timeout. We wanted to push the ball and try to score in transition.”
That’s just what the Leopards did.
Nicks took the outlet pass after Trinity Valley’s miss, penetrated the lane, then dished off to Herriott for the game-winner.
The Cardinals could manage only a desperation shot that clanged off the rim at the buzzer.
“I’m really proud of the way our guys played tonight,” Johnson said. “Not just because we won, but in the way they handled things. After getting caught late in the game on the road, a lot of teams might have folded. But our guys responded.”
Green finished with a game-high 31 points to go along with 15 rebounds as the Leopards repeatedly beat the Cardinals to the boards. Temple had 51 rebounds on the night, 20 of them on the offensive end.
Herriott tallied 24 points and Tyrone Bazy added 14 for Temple. Nicks finished with a solid eight points, nine assists and eight steals.
Andre Minatee scored 18 points to pace Trinity Valley.
The Leopards will be in action again at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday when they host their home opener against Navarro at TC gym.
