In a back and forth game that included six lead changes, Siena uncharacteristically broke down in a 73-69 defeat to the Temple Owls at the Liacouras Center.

In the Saints final possession, Alex Franklin passed to Kyle Downey who lost the basketball out of bounds in Siena’s final chance to tie the game. Siena gave the ball away 11 times, 2 of which occurred in the final 2:04 in their first loss of the season.

With the game still within reach, Siena compounded their problems with uncharacteristic mistakes. Franklin missed a dunk with 2:31 left and Ryan Rossiter fouled a Temple shooter from behind the arc with 2:10 to go. After all three free throws were missed, Ronald Moore followed a rebound by turning the ball over on an errant pass to a cutting Franklin with 2:04 in regulation.

Alex Franklin led the way for the Saints with 22 points. Siena was able to pound the ball inside with Franklin and Rossiter off of post ups and pick and rolls to shoot a 52.1% 2 point FG% in the 2nd half. Rossiter scored 8, all of which were scored in the 2nd half.

Edwin Ubiles woke up in the second half, scoring 6 in the second half after a cold first half for his total of 10.

Temple used a 13-0 run to take a six point lead with 11:38 left.

Siena used their full court press to turn a 4 point deficit with 11 minutes to go into a 3 point lead which culminated with a Juan Fernandez intentional foul on Ronald Moore with 7:50 left.

Ryan Brooks made a jumper with 3:40 to go to give Temple a 1 point lead, a lead they would not surrender.

Juan Fernandez led the way for Temple with 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting. Fernandez made 4 out of 6 three pointers he tried. Ramone Moore scored 12 of his career-high 16 points in the second half.

Temple shot 70.3% effective FG% in the second half which included going 16 of 20 (80%) from 2 point range.

Siena’s bench managed 4 points (2 for 5 from the field), 4 rebounds, 4 turnovers and 2 steals in 35 total minutes. This was only the 5th time in Ronald Moore’s career where he has totaled double-digit assists in a game.