Pat Birt scored a game-high 23 points as Tulsa handed American Athletic Conference first-place Temple a 74-55 loss in front of 4,827 fans Tuesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Tulsa fell behind 12 points at the eight-minute mark of the first half, but out-scored the Owls 61-30 over the next 28 minutes and moved its record to 19-9 on the season and 11-5 in conference action. Temple fell to 17-10 overall and 11-4 in league play, but still maintains a half-game lead over SMU in the American standings.
The top of the league standings after tonight's game has Temple at 11-4, SMU 10-4, Tulsa 11-5, Cincinnati 10-5, UConn 9-5 and Houston at 9-6.