Temple cruises past East Carolina 66-53

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Will Cummings scored 17 points and Temple cruised to a 66-53 victory over East Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

Cummings was a perfect 7 of 7 from the line and had six assists. Jesse Morgan added 14 points, Josh Brown chipped in 10, and Jaylen Bond finished with 16 boards for Temple (19-7, 10-3), which holds third place in the American Athletic Conference.

The Owls closed out the first half on a 10-1 run to lead 34-18 at the break, and East Carolina could get no closer than 11 points in the second half. A three-point play from Brown and a pair of free throws from Cummings gave Temple an 18-point advantage with 5:46 to play.

The Owls didn't score in the final 4:20, but just five points from East Carolina wasn't enough to close the deficit.

Terry Whisnant scored 13 points for the Pirates (11-14, 4-8).