PROVIDENCE, R.I. - In a busy Saturday of American Athletic Conference men's basketball action, No. 9/8 Houston continued its win streak to 11 games and 33-consecutive wins at home with a victory over USF. Temple also won at home against Tulsa. Memphis and ECU both went on road and earned close victories at Wichita State and Tulane, respectively.
Saturday, February 23
No. 9/8 Houston 71, USF 59
Houston sophomore guard DeJon Jarreau scored 17 points, senior guard Corey Davis Jr. added 15 and the ninth-ranked Cougars won their 11th straight with a 71-59 victory over USF on Saturday night inside the Fertitta Center.
Houston (26-1, 13-1) shot 48-percent and never trailed in its 33
rd-straight home victory. Davis was 4-of-9 on 3-pointers as the Cougars shot 8-of-21 from behind the arc.
David Collins had 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Alexis Yetna added nine points for USF (18-9, 7-7). The Bulls were held to 31-percent from the field.
Houston jumped out to an 11-0 lead, hitting its first four field goals, including two 3-pointers from Davis. Trailing 23-13 with 8:44 left in the first half, USF went on a 10-1 run to cut the lead to one on Yetna's layup with 5 minutes remaining.
Houston finished the half on a 10-3 run to take a 34-26 halftime advantage behind seven points from Jarreau and Fabian White Jr.
The Cougars scored the first seven points out of the break to push the lead to 41-26 on Davis' 3-pointer 1 1/2 minutes in the second half. USF got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
The Bulls started 0-for-7 from the field and finished the half 7-for-25. USF struggled from behind the arc, shooting 8-for-27, but also committed 15 turnovers. The Bulls outscored Houston in second-chance points 13-4.
The Cougars finished with 13 assists on 25 field goals. Houston also controlled the paint, outscoring the Bulls 30-14. Houston committed 12 turnovers.
Temple 84, Tulsa 73
Shizz Alston, Jr. scored 24 points and Quinton Rose put up 23 points in leading Temple to an 84-73 win over Tulsa (16-12, 6-9) and avenge the Owls' loss to the Golden Hurricane just two weeks ago.
The victory puts Temple at 20-7 overall (10-4 in the American Athletic Conference), giving head coach Fran Dunphy his ninth 20-win season in 13 years with the Owls.
After shooting a season-low 30 percent in an 18-point loss at Tulsa on Feb. 9, Temple truly turned things around and shot almost 51 percent overall.
The Owls shot nearly 59 percent in the second half, keeping them ahead of the Golden Hurricane who saw a huge improvement from the first half (29.6 percent) and shot 53.6 percent.
Rose helped set the tone early, scoring seven straight points in a 12-0 run that gave Temple a lead in the opening three minutes that the Owls would not relinquish.
The hot shooting came in stretches for Temple, which also went cold in the latter half of the first period and allowed Tulsa to cut a 10-point lead down to just one.
The Golden Hurricane were within five points midway through the second half, but a 12-2 Owl run gave them their largest lead of 17 points with 4:23 to go. Martins Igbanu and Curran Scott led Tulsa with 15 points each as leading scorer DaQuan Jeffries did not play.
Alston made four three-pointers in his 12th outing of the season with 20 or more points. He added five boards and game-high seven assists, with that total now tying him for ninth all-time in program history with 389 career assists.
Rose made 7-of-7 at the line and scored 13 of his 23 points in the Owls' big second half.
Nate Pierre-Louis scored 13 points in his 21st double-figure scoring performance of the year.
ECU 85, Tulane 81
Two streaks came to an end and a third continued for ECU at Fogelman Arena Saturday night. Shawn Williams scored a season-high 27 points as ECU (10-16, 3-11) narrowly defeated Tulane 85-81 to earn its first road win of the year and snap a five-game losing streak.
It was also the Pirates' sixth-straight win over the Green Wave at Fogelman Arena.
Isaac Fleming posted his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Seth LeDay had 14 points and seven rebounds for ECU and Jayden Gardner added 11 points.
The visitors rushed out to a 20-9 lead in the first six minutes behind a trio of 3-pointers from Williams, who is now 11-of-16 outside the arc in two career games at Tulane.
The Green Wave answered with a 19-7 run to take the lead, 28-27, with nine minutes left until halftime. Five lead changes ensued over the next four minutes before Connor Crabtree put Tulane ahead for the remainder of the half en route to a 53-47 lead at intermission.
The Pirates' 47 points in the first half marked a season high for the visitors, while the 53 first-half points for the Green Wave was the best of the season for the home team as both teams shot 50.0 percent before the break.
The second half was all about the Pirates' defense which forced 16 turnovers during the final 20 minutes. ECU scored 17 points off the Green Wave's second half miscues and outscored them 38-28 to sweep the season series.
ECU defeated Tulane 66-65 in Greenville on Jan. 31.
LeDay's breakaway dunk capped a 10-2 run to start the half and gave ECU a 57-55 lead less than four minutes in.
Six more lead changes followed until Fleming buried a 3-pointer with 3:48 to play and gave ECU a 73-72 lead. The Pirates led for the remainder of the contest with Williams sinking two free throws with nine seconds remaining to seal the win.
Crabtree scored a season-high 23 points for the Green Wave (4-22, 0-14), who have now lost 16 games in a row. Samir Sehic added 21 points and seven rebounds. Moses Wood had 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The Pirates forced 21 total turnovers and scored 29 points off those turnovers, while committing just eight turnovers themselves.
Memphis 88, Wichita State 85
Memphis claimed one of its biggest wins under first-year coach Penny Hardaway Saturday night front of 10,506 fans at Koch Arena. The Tigers beat Wichita State 88-85 behind 37 points from senior point guard Jeremiah Martin and 16 points and nine rebounds from senior forward Raynere Thornton.
Martin continued one of the most torrid stretches in school history in the victory, scoring 29 in the second half and feeding Thornton with a key dunk. Martin is averaging 30 points in seven games this month.
Wichita State (13-13, 6-8) had won five of six before Saturday, but the Tigers (17-11, 9-6) were up to the challenge, despite falling behind by 16 in the first half. The Tigers shot 61 percent in the second half.
With the victory, the Tigers put themselves in stronger position to grab a top 4 seed in next month's conference tournament at FedExForum and the first-round bye that comes with it.
In addition to Martin and Thornton, Kareem Brewton Jr. had 14 points and six rebounds, including a key rebound in the final seconds.
In the frantic final minutes, the Tigers never fell behind, despite Wichita State tying the game at 75-all with four minutes to go. Thornton gave the Tigers a 79-75 lead with consecutive dunks, the first on a feed from Brewton and the second on an assist from Kyvon Davenport.
The Tigers hit 8 of 10 free throws in the final 2:22 to secure the win.
Dexter Dennis and Samajae Haynes-Jones had 17 each to lead Wichita State, and Markis McDuffie had 15.
Memphis opened the second half trailing by four, but came charging out and began on a 12-4 run to take a four-point lead. Brewton scored twice in the lane on consecutive possessions and Martin added a 3-pointer to trim the Shockers' advantage to a point (44-43).
Davenport gave the Tigers their first lead since the opening minutes of the game when he drained two free throws to make it 45-44.
After a Martin 3-pointer made it 48-44, the Tigers proceeded to go on a 10-3 run that included two more Martin 3-pointers and a fastbreak right-handed dunk following a steal. The Tigers led 58-47 with 12:24 left.
At the under-12-minute media timeout, the UofM led 60-49 and had made nine of its 10 second-half field goals. The Tigers eventually built a 13-point cushion (68-55) on a 3-pointer by Martin with 7:55 left.
But the Shockers didn't quit. They fought back to create the beginnings of what could become a great league rivalry. The Shockers tied the game at 75-all on a 3-pointer by McDuffie with 4:05 to go.
In the first half, the Tigers fell quickly behind and trailed by as many as 16 (24-8) midway through the period. The UofM missed 12 straight field goals at one stretch, contributing to the Shockers' 22-4 run.
The Tigers were able to recover, mostly behind the play of Thornton and Brewton. Thornton scored 12 points in the final eight minutes of the half, scoring in a variety of ways, from 3-pointers and putback dunks to strong drives and midrange jumpers. Brewton added several acrobatic layups as the Tigers trimmed their 16-point deficit to four points (40-36) at the half.
Memphis shot 34.3 in the opening half, but stayed close by converting 10 of 13 free throws and out-rebounding the Shockers, 23-21. Wichita State shot 44.4 percent and only turned the ball over four times.
UPCOMING GAMES