GREENVILLE — The East Carolina football team held a 14-10 lead over the Temple Owls Thursday night at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for nearly the entire second half, until the final three minutes and 31 seconds turned the game on its ear.

The Pirates (4-4, 2-2 American Athletic Conference) had a punt tipped and a punt blocked in the final six minutes of the game, both of which ended in touchdowns for the Owls (7-0, 4-0 AAC) and left ECU behind in a 24-14 loss.

“I thought defensively, right up there until the end, we played a great game as well,” said McNeill following the loss. “We need all four sides of the team playing together and we did not do that tonight. The penalties again, we stopped ourselves.”

The first was not as costly. The Pirates lined up to punt from their own 30-yard line, but Sharif Finch broke through and got a hand on the ball. Despite the tip, Temple took over on its own 30-yard line.

Temple quarterback P.J. Walker connected with Robby Anderson three times on the drive, including a 51-yard pass and a drive-capping 23-yard touchdown pass with 3:31 left in the game. Temple moved ahead 17-14.

The ensuing ECU possession was dashed the same way many Pirate drives were; with a penalty. On the first play of the drive, quarterback Blake Kemp was hit with an intentional grounding call that took the wind from ECU’s sails and made a tough situation worse. ECU ended up punting on the drive from its own 14.

“(It hurt us) a little bit,” said Kemp of the intentional grounding call. “I was kind of frustrated with it because it was on me. I thought the guy was there but obviously he wasn’t, that’s what makes me frustrated.”

Finch came up big again and blocked another punt, which ended up falling on the ECU 15-yard line in the hands of the Owls.

Jahad Thomas (20 carries for 66 yards and two touchdowns) took the ball in for a touchdown on the second play of the drive and put the game out of reach with 2:18 left in the game.

The Pirates were burned by early penalties, as the Pirates saw nine flags thrown against them for 99 yards (12 for 114 yards on Temple). ECU running back Chris Hairston scored his seventh touchdown of the season in the second quarter to put ECU on top 7-3 at the time. Hairston had just eight carries for 65 yards. He had a number of strong carries called back on penalties.

“Penalties and turnovers, that’s what it was all game,” Hairston said. “That’s what held us back. Temple did not beat us, we beat our own selves with all the penalties and errors.”

ECU held on to its 14-10 lead early in the fourth and was building confidence, moving the ball from its own 12-yard line to the Owls’ 45. Anthony Scott took one of his seven carries (13 yard) around the right side and was stripped by Stephaun Marshall for a turnover.

Kemp was responsible for the other turnover, throwing an interception straight into the arms of Tyler Matakevich (13 tackles, one sack and one interception), who returned the pick 26 yards into ECU territory. The ECU defense posted two stops off of turnovers as kicker Austin Jones missed from 52 yards and 37 yards in the third and fourth, respectively.

“(The defense) played lights out for a good portion of the game,” Kemp said after the game. “After the turnovers, they’re looking at a short field, so (those stops) are really big.”

With four games remaining on the schedule, Kemp pointed out that the Pirates have a chance to finish with a better record than last season (8-5). The junior quarterback said that is the team’s plan, to win out. With the four remaining games against the bottom four teams in the East Division of the American, that goal may be within grasp despite the loss.