Another winnable game for the Temple boys basketball team doomed by turnovers.
And this one, a 46-40 loss to No. 10-ranked Bryan on Tuesday night at Wildcat Gym, was one Temple had within its reach. But it’s tough to win, especially against a state-ranked opponent, when you give the ball away 31 times.
Temple (7-13 overall, 1-3 in District 12-5A) has dropped three straight district games.
“It’s costing us points and the opportunity for points, but Bryan, that’s what they do,” Temple coach Tim Thomas said. “They get after you, they make you rush and try and force turnovers. You’re going to have some; you just don’t want to have the turnovers that lead directly to baskets. Tonight, we had a few that led to baskets.”
Four nights earlier at Temple, No. 13 Killeen Ellison rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit by forcing the same kind of careless turnovers in an overtime win.
Bryan (18-2, 4-0), which got 20 points from freshman guard J-Mychal Reese, followed the same script throughout, keeping the Wildcats out of any sort of offensive rhythm. And what made it worse was that Temple gave it away at the worst times.
The Vikings broke an 18-all halftime tie by scoring seven of their first nine points off Wildcat turnovers. Those easy baskets were all Bryan needed to establish its fast-break pace.
Bryan led by as many as nine and finished up eight at the end of the third.
“We were able to get some turnovers, and that’s what we feed off,” said Bryan coach John Reese, a Temple graduate. “Our defense is our offense. We were able to get some easy buckets, and that’s what got us going.”
Many of the Wildcats’ turnovers - passes that sailed out of bounds, dribbling the ball off a foot - were simply ones Thomas calls “unexplainable.”
“I can’t explain them,” he said. “I can’t say, ‘This guy came up behind and tipped the ball’ or ‘the guy dove and made a great play.’ You just have to have poise and make the play."
The Wildcats’ turnover woes came on one of their best shooting nights of the year. Temple knocked down 56 percent of its field goal attempts.
Temple also held Bryan, one of the district’s highest-scoring teams, to just 30-percent shooting from the field.
“Offensively, sometimes you’re going to struggle, whether it’s shooting or it’s turnovers,” Thomas said. “But if you compete defensively, you’ve still got a chance.”
Said John Reese: “It’s a ‘W’ in the district. It’s on the road and that’s huge. These guys took Ellison into overtime, so they’re doing something right. We’re fortunate to sneak out with a close win.”
Despite its turnover woes, Temple managed to cut the lead to five at 38-33 with 5:14 left after back-to-back baskets by Erik Valdez, who had a team-high 16 points.
After that, Reese took over. The Vikings’ point guard scored six straight points, helping open up a 44-38 lead with two minutes left. Guard Dacorian Burleson was the only other Viking in double figures with 10 points.
Senior D.J. Wright finished with eight for Temple and junior Lache Seastrunk and freshman Avery Polchinski each had five.
After back-to-back losses to state-ranked teams, the Wildcats can only wonder what the outcome could have been had they taken care of the ball.
“I really feel like we can get better in that regard - we’re going to have to get better,” said Thomas, whose team will play at Harker Heights at 7:30 p.m. Friday. “You can’t the turn the ball over (31) times in a ballgame.”
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
