Dunphy reaches 200th win with buzzer beater over No. 23 UConn

(AP Photo/Fred Beckham)

Junior Josh Brown scored the game- winning jumper with two seconds left in the game to lift Temple (7-6,2-1) over #23/24 UConn. The 55-53 win was the Owls second over a ranked team this season and marked the 200th career victory for head coach Fran Dunphy. The win makes Dunphy now one of just five Division I coaches to record 200 or more wins at two different schools while taking both to at least six NCAA Tournaments. He recorded his 500th career win in last season’s American Athletic Conference Tournament.

It was a night to remember not only for Dunphy, but also for the Owls program. The road win over the Huskies was the first time since 1998 that they have defeated two ranked teams on the road in one season. The first win over a ranked opponent came just a week before the matchup against UConn as the Owls won 77-70 at #22/23 Cincinnati.

Junior Josh Brown, is also no rookie to scoring game-winning shots. Last nights jumper was his second career game-winner. He scored the winning shot, again with two seconds left, at Memphis last season. Senior Quenton DeCosey led Temple with 15 points, going 3-of-3 from the three point line. Devin Coleman followed with 14 as Brown and Jaylen Bond each finished with 11. It was the fourth double-double of the season for Bond, grabbing a game-best 10 rebounds.

The game was one to watch with six ties and 12 lead changes. Neither the Owls nor the Huskies led by more than two points for the final eight and a half minutes. With 29 seconds left, UConn’s Daniel Hamilton hit a pair of free throws to tie the game for the final time, forcing Temple to call a timeout.

After a Temple timeout at 14 seconds, Brown came through with his final shot to secure the victory.

In the first half, both teams shot just 10-of-31 (32.3 percent) from the field. Temple went on an 11-2 run in the final five minutes to take a 30-27 at the break.

At the start of the second half, Bond and Coleman each knocked down three-pointers to extend Temple’s lead to seven. Back-to-back two-pointers by the two gave the Owks its largest lead of the game at 13:15, 40-32. A 7-2 run by the Huskies closed the gap to three points. The lead changed four times near the eight-minute mark before both teams suffered a late drought. Neither team scored a single point from 2:44 until Hamilton’s free throws with 29 seconds left.

Temple returns home to face East Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m ET (ESPNews/1210 AM WPHT).