Nov. 17, 2017
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CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Anfernee McLemore's career day was not enough as the Auburn men's basketball team dropped an 88-74 decision to Temple in the semifinal of the 2017 Gildan Charleston Classic Friday afternoon.
McLemore matched a career-best mark with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor to lead the Tigers (2-1). The sophomore also added a career-high five blocks to go along with seven rebounds.
"He did a great job," head coach Bruce Pearl said. "Anfernee is so athletic and he does such a great job with his offensive rebounding. He blocked five shots and really played well. Anfernee never forces anything offensively and he takes what comes to him."
Desean Murray racked up his second consecutive game with a double-double as the junior tallied 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in 23 minutes of action.
The Tigers, however, shot just 36 percent from the floor (27-of-75) in the non-conference clash.
"We didn't shoot it very well," continued Pearl. "I thought offensively we were forcing things a little bit. We didn't have a real good flow or rhythm to our offense. Temple doesn't extend too much defensively, so they force you to make some shots from the perimeter. I just thought our guys settled way too much. We could've gotten better looks and we didn't get to the foul line in the second half, which was a real key."
Meanwhile, Temple (2-0) made 30 shots on 61 attempts, including a 19-of-28 (68 percent) in the second half. The Owls had four players in double figures, led by Obi Enechionyia with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Quinton Rose added 19 points with five makes from behind the arc.
Temple maintained the advantage in the first half, despite five lead changes, and held on to a 32-31 lead at the break.
Auburn used a 17-10 run in the early stages of the second half to knot things back up at 50-50. The Tigers eventually took the lead at 56-54 behind a layup by Jared Harper with just over 10 minutes remaining.
The Owls would close the contest by outscoring Auburn 34-18 in the final 10 minutes of play to take the result by 14.
Chuma Okeke reached double digits for the second straight game as the freshman chimed in 11 points with four rebounds. Bryce Brown was the final player to reach double figures with 10 points.
Harper matched his career-high with seven assists in 33 minutes on the court.
The Tigers have a day off before playing in the third place game of the Charleston Classic against either Clemson or Hofstra. Tip time is set for 6 p.m. CT Sunday night with the game being broadcast on ESPNU, 93.9 Tiger FM and on the TuneIn app.