PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Two of the top men's basketball teams in the American Athletic Conference put up statement wins last night as No. 17/17 Houston and rv/- UCF were both victorious in strong fashion. The Cougars won their nation-leading 30
th straight home game in a victory over ECU. Houston point guard Galen Robinson, Jr., hit the 500 career assists mark and now ranks third all-time in The American record book. Not to be outdone, UCF rolled to a road win while senior B.J. Taylor moved up ninth on the Knights' all-time scoring list with 1,399 points and is seventh all-time in The American.
Wednesday, January 23
No. 17/17 Houston 94, ECU 50
Armoni Brooks scored 17 points, Corey Davis Jr. added 12 and No. 17/17 Houston hit 16 3-pointers while beating East Carolina 94-50 on Wednesday night at the Fertitta Center for their 30
th consecutive home victory; a nation-leading mark.
Brooks and Davis combined to hit nine 3-pointers while the Cougars (19-1, 6-1) finished 16 of 24 from behind the arc. Nate Hinton had 13 points, Cedrick Alley scored 12 and Fabian White Jr. had 11.
Houston, which won its fourth-straight game, shot 52 percent from the field.
Senior point guard Galen Robinson Jr. surpassed 500 assists for his career at Houston, becoming the sixth Cougar to accomplish the feat. Robinson finished with eight and is now third on the American Athletic Conference all-time assists list and just the third player to reach the 500-mark (Troy Caupain, Cincinnati - 515, Nic Moore, SMU - 508).
Seth Leday had 12 points and Isaac Fleming added 11 for ECU (8-10, 1-5). Jayden Gardner, who came into the game leading the American in scoring with 19.8 points per game, finished with eight points for the Pirates. ECU shot 32 percent.
After Fleming's layup with 8 1/2 minutes left cut Houston's lead to 21-15, the Cougars went on a 26-9 run over the next eight minutes to take a 47-24 lead on Robinson's 3-pointer with 1 1/2 minutes left in the half. Houston made six straight 3-pointers during the run.
The Cougars led 49-26 at the half.
The Pirates struggled to find scoring as Houston did well defending Gardner. ECU finished 2-of-22 on 3-pointers. The Pirates took care of the ball, committing 10 turnovers and held a 24-18 advantage in points in the paint.
The Cougars never trailed. They opened 2-of-9 from the field before catching fire and finishing the first half 15 of 22. Houston played well on both ends and was able to keep ECU off the glass, holding a 47-25 advantage. The Cougars continued to pass the ball well, finishing with 21 assists on 29 made field goals.
NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, who played a key role in Houston's run of three straight NCAA Final Four appearances from 1982-84, sat courtside.
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rv/- UCF 75, Tulane 50
UCF forced a season-high 19 turnovers and rolled to a 75-50 victory at Tulane Wednesday night in American Athletic Conference action, improving to 15-3 overall and 5-1 in league action.
UCF turned the 19 miscues into 21 points off of turnovers en route to its most decisive victory in conference play and its biggest margin of victory on the road this season.
The Knights sprinted out to a 30-10 advantage as a 15-0 spurt midway through the first half was capped by five straight points by Aubrey Dawkins.
BJ Taylor and Dawkins both scored in double figures in the first half alone, as UCF shot a blistering 52.8 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
After heading into the break with their most points in the first half so far in 2018-19, holding a 45-23 lead, it was more of the same in half number two for the Knights.
UCF extended its lead to as much as 34 when an alley-oop from Terrell Allen to Chad Brown made it 73-39 with 3:58 to play in the game. The Knights cruised from there for the 75-50 win.
Dawkins led the way with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor, adding seven rebounds and two steals. It marked his 18th straight game scoring in double figures and the fourth time in the last five games that he led UCF in scoring.
Freshman Kevin Zhang and junior Samir Sehic each scored in double figures for Tulane (4-14, 0-6 AAC). Sehic finished with a team-high 11 points, while Zhang scored 10. Sophomore Caleb Daniels and senior Blake Paul also chipped in offensively with nine and eight points, respectively. In addition, Paul pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for the Green Wave.
Taylor added 17 points, three rebounds and three assists in the victory for the Knights. With his sixth point, he passed D'Quarius Stewart for ninth place all-time at UCF in scoring. He now has 1,399 career points in his four seasons on the court.
Collin Smith scored in double figures for the second straight game, adding 11 points and four rebounds, while Dayon Griffin chipped in with nine points on a trio of three-pointers. Tacko Fall's 10 boards led the way on the glass, recording double-figure rebounds for the fourth time this season.
UPCOMING GAMES