Typical Big 5 game. Physical, tight, controversially officiated. The whole thing.
And somebody always has to play the hero. Wednesday night, it was Anthony Lee.
The junior big man scored seven points in the final two minutes to carry the Owls over St. Joe's, 77-69, at the Liacouras Center.
Lee finished with a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double.
For St. Joseph's, Langston Galloway scored 16 of his game-high 24 in the second half, but struggled to get much help from his teammates down the stretch.
Temple's win snaps a two-game losing streak to St. Joe's and extends a five-game winning streak over the Hawks at home dating back to 2009. Temple has now won 11 of the last 13 games in the series.
News
The Owls advanced to 4-3 overall and 2-0 against the Big 5, while the Hawks dropped to 4-3 and 0-1.
Turning point
Galloway tied the game at 65 with 2:19 remaining on two straight jumpers, when neither team had led by more than five points the entire game.
Lee put Temple back ahead by five with lay-ins bookending a made free throw by Quenton DeCosey.
Lee was then fouled with 28 seconds remaining, made his first free throw, missed the second, but got his own rebound, was fouled again, and made two more foul shots to put Temple up, 73-67. St. Joe's never recovered.
The final score was Temple's largest lead of the night.
B.M.O.C.
Galloway led all scorers with 24 points on 8 for 16 shooting from the floor and 6 for 12 shooting from three.
Three other Hawks -- Ron Roberts, Halil Kanacevic and DeAndre Bembry -- finished in double figures, but Roberts was scoreless for most of the second and Kanacevic missed considerable time on the bench with four fouls.
For Temple, Will Cummings and Dalton Pepper tied for a team-high 16 and both battled cramping late. Pepper left the game for eight of the final 10 minutes trying get hydrated.
Inside the box score
• Temple's bench outscored St. Joe's, 25-2.
• Cummings' seven assist were a game high and tied a career high for the junior guard.
• The lead changed hands 17 times and neither team led by more than five points until the final minute.
• St. Joe's turned the ball over nine times in the first half and 15 times overall, although Temple only picked up 13 points off those giveaways.
History
This was two program's first meeting as members of separate conferences since the 1945-46 season.
The Owls and Hawks were members of the Middle Athletic Conference from 1946-47 to 1973-74, the East Coast Conference from 1974-75 to 1981-82 and the Atlantic 10 from 1982-83 to 2012-13.
Previous to St. Joe's current three-game winning streak, Temple had won the last 10 straight in the series, and St. Joe's the previous nine before that.
St. Joe's last win at the Liacouras Center came on Jan. 26, 2008, when Pat Calathes hit a game-winning three with 11 seconds to play. The Hawks proceeded to lose their next 10 straight to Temple and have now lost five in a row at the Apollo.
What's next?
St. Joe's plays the second half of a Big 5 back-to-back when it heads to the Pavilion on Saturday for a meeting with No. 14 Villanova at 6 p.m.
Also on Saturday, Temple heads down to the Wells Fargo Center for a noon tip with Texas.