PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Houston Cougars and Tulsa Golden Hurricane picked up the American Athletic Conference's ninth and 10
th wins of the 2018 season and did so in impressive fashion. Houston scored 101 points, the most in the league this season while Tulsa shot 52-percent from the field.
Saturday, Nov. 10
Houston 101, Alabama A&M 54
Houston junior guard Armoni Brooks led all scorers with 24 points, behind six three-pointers, as Houston rolled to a 101-54 season opening victory over Alabama A&M Saturday afternoon inside H&PE Arena in a game presented by Maintenance Supply Headquarters.
Brooks, who was named the 2018 American Sixth Man of the Year, connected on 9-of-13 from the field. The junior tied his career-high after draining six long-range shots on 10 attempts.
The Cougars, who won their 16th straight home game inside H&PE Arena as construction on the $60-million Fertitta Center enters the homestretch, drained 53.3 percent of their shots from the field, including a scorching 67.7 percent (21-of-31) in the second half, and outrebounded the Bulldogs 37-20 in the first meeting between the two schools.
Alabama A&M moved to within 25-15 after Andre Kennedy converted an and-1 with 7:39 remaining in the first half. However, that would be as close as the Bulldogs would come the rest of the way.
The Cougars closed out the first half on an 18-3 run to take a 43-18 lead into the locker room at the break and used a 30-7 run late in the second half to claim the program's biggest season-opening victory since a 131-62 victory over Florida Tech on Nov. 22, 2005.
Senior guard Corey Davis Jr., who was a Preseason All-American Athletic Conference selection, finished with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, including 5-of-9 from behind the arc. Senior center Breaon Brady added 12 points with five rebounds, while redshirt freshman forward Cedrick Alley Jr. totaled 11 points with five rebounds, including four offensive boards.
Making his collegiate debut, guard Nate Hinton - who was chosen as The American's Preseason Freshman of the Year, totaled seven points with a game-high seven rebounds.
Alabama A&M forward Andre Kennedy led the Bulldogs with 14 points, while guard Jalen Reeder added 13 points and a team-high four rebounds.
Tulsa 74, South Carolina State 52
Tulsa shot 52-percent and DaQuan Jeffries neared a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds as the Golden Hurricane improved to 2-0 with a 74-52 victory over South Carolina State on Saturday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Jeffries went 8-of-11 from the floor and hit a pair of 3-pointers to lead TU, which also got 11 points off the bench from Curran Scott. The Hurricane racked up 19 assists, including a career-high 10 helpers from Sterling Taplin.
In addition, Elijah Joiner (9 points), Martins Igbanu (8 points) and Jeriah Horne (8 points) neared double-figures in another balanced offensive attack.
Meanwhile, Damani Applewhite led all scorers with 21 points for the Bulldogs (1-1), but the team was held to just 31-percent shooting. Jahmari Etienne scored 14 points off the bench before leaving early in the second half with an injury.
Neither team could get much separation in the opening minutes of the contest, but a triple from Scott with seven minutes left in the half ignited a 7-0 run that gave the home squad its first double-digit lead at 24-14. Taplin and Joiner also hit triples in the final 5:30 of the half to give the Hurricane a 36-25 advantage at intermission.
TU clamped down defensively in the second half and turned those stops into points on the other end as the home squad led by at least a dozen points throughout the final 20 minutes.
Jeffries went on a tear midway through the half as he scored 14 straight points with the help of an assist from a teammate on all six of his baskets. The run pushed the Tulsa lead out to 62-40 with nine minutes left.
From there, the Bulldogs would not get any closer than 16 points and TU had its largest lead, 74-49, on Scott's 3-pointer with 92 seconds left on the way to the 74-52 final.
UPCOMING GAMES