The Wildcats dug themselves an early hole Tuesday night against Copperas Cove. Even when it had a chance to seize control, Temple simply made too many mistakes.
And that’s a tale that’s been all too familiar.
Cove downed Temple 57-45 at Bulldawg Gym, sending the Wildcats to their fourth loss in five games.
Up next for the Wildcats (7-10 overall, 1-1 district) is a tough District 12-5A stretch against state-ranked heavyweights Bryan and Killeen Ellison. To build confidence for those brutal games, Temple needed to have a consistent game on both ends, something that didn’t happen in Saturday’s district-opening win over Belton.
That didn’t happen on Tuesday night, either.
Temple trailed by 10 points less than four minutes in and was behind by double digits for nearly 24 of the game’s 32 minutes. Copperas Cove (6-14, 1-1) missed only nine shots as it shot a red-hot 70 percent from the floor.
Raheem Odomes, who sat on the bench for more than a quarter, had the Bulldawgs’ hottest hand. He scored a game-high 25 points and shot 9-for-9 from the field.
“Raheem is a very good shooter, a very good shooter,” said Cove coach David Farber, a former Temple assistant.
Despite all that went wrong, the Wildcats found a way to claw back into it, forcing 11 Bulldawg turnovers in the second and third quarters. Temple, though, couldn’t capitalize when it had a chance to grab the momentum.
Another tough comeback undone in the fourth quarter.
“The kids dug a hole, but we battled back,” Temple coach Tim Thomas said. “We just have to learn how to battle back and finish.”
Temple got the deficit to six points by halftime after back-to-back 3-pointers by freshman Avery Polchinski in the final minute. The Wildcats stayed close in the third and whittled the lead down to two with 4:31 left on a deep 3 by senior D.J. Wright.
Cove went on a 6-0 run that included two baskets scored off offensive rebounds and an easy transition layup. That stretch pushed the lead back to eight with 3:03 left.
Trailing by seven heading into the fourth, the Wildcats never got any closer. Temple made just two baskets and committed five turnovers.
“Just too many mistakes in the fourth quarter,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to cut down on the turnovers.”
Junior Erik Valdez scored a team-high 13 points and five others - Wright, Dominique Robertson, Donald Robinson, Donovan Shumpert and Polchinski - finished with six each.
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
