COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Cougars rebound from first loss, down Shockers

Published 10:04 pm Saturday, January 12, 2019

HOUSTON (AP) — Corey Davis Jr. had 20 points, Armoni Brooks added 14 and No. 17 Houston rebounded from its first loss of the season to beat Wichita State 79-70 on Saturday night.

Davis and Brooks combined to hit eight three-pointers — seven in the second half — and the Cougars (16-1, 3-1 American) overcame a five-point halftime deficit for their 29th straight home victory. DeJon Jarreau had 13 points, and Fabian White Jr. added 12. Houston shot 57 percent in the second half and 49 percent overall.

Markis McDuffie scored 22 points, and Samajae Haynes-Jones added 14 for Wichita State (7-8, 0-3). The Shockers shot 39 percent in losing their fourth straight, their longest streak since January 2009.

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After Wichita State regained the lead at 56-55 on McDuffie’s four-point play with 11 minutes remaining, the Cougars answered with an 11-1 run to take a nine-point advantage with 7 1/2 minutes left.

Wichita State got no closer than five the rest of the way.

Trailing 40-34 early in the second half, Houston had a 14-0 run to take a 48-40 lead on back-to-back three-pointers by Brooks with 14 minutes left.

No. 8 Texas Tech 68, Texas 62

AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas Tech Red Raiders finally got a win the program hadn’t earned in a generation.

Matt Mooney scored 22 points, most of them coming in the second half, and the No. 8 Red Raiders beat Texas 68-62 Saturday for their first win in Austin since 1996.

Back then, both programs were still playing in the old Southwest Conference. Now the Red Raiders are the only team left unbeaten in Big 12 play and looking every bit like a league championship contender.

“We might have mentioned (the losing streak),” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said.

Oh, it came up. Beard even made it sound a wee bit longer, just for emphasis.

“Coach told us it was 30 years,” Mooney said.

Sensing their big chance was at hand, Red Raiders fans packed Texas’ Frank Erwin Center by the thousands and their boisterous chants of “Dee-fense!” and cheers for Texas Tech rallies often drowned out the home fans.

“We’re building something special in Lubbock,” Beard said. “We won’t apologize for it.”

Texas led 30-26 at halftime before Mooney provided the spark the Red Raiders needed with 14 points in the second half. None were bigger than his consecutive 3-pointers for Texas Tech’s first two baskets after halftime. The first one came with a defender in his face and barely beat the shot clock.

Jordan Culver scored 14 points and had seven assists for Texas Tech (15-1, 4-0 Big 12). Texas held the Red Raiders’ leading scorer in check for much of game, but he delivered a big basket after the Longhorns had rallied to tie the game at 48-48 in the second half.

Texas Tech responded with a quick 7-0 run behind a basket from Culver, a three-pointer by Davide Moretti and a dunk by Norense Odiase.

Texas Tech led 61-51 on Brandone Francis’ three-pointer with 3:37 left, his only basket of the game. Texas cut the lead to four, but lost a chance to get within one possession in the final minute when Jase Febres threw the ball away on a fast break with a behind the back pass. Febres has started the play with a steal.

“I was trying to be aggressive and draw a foul, they didn’t’ call it and I lost the ball,” Febres said.

Texas Tech made seven of eight free throws over the final 46 seconds to seal the win.

Kerwin Roach II scored 17 for Texas (10-6, 2-2), but had just four points after halftime.

Texas A&M 81, Alabama 80

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — After trailing for nearly the entire game, Texas A&M had a chance to defeat Alabama on the road.

With 3.4 seconds left, TJ Starks caught the inbound pass, which was lobbed over his head because Alabama was pressing, sprinted right outside the 3-point arc, and with his momentum still going toward the baseline, floated a shot that banked in for an 81-80 victory.

It was the Aggies’ first SEC and road win of the season.

“Hopefully, this (win) gives us some energy and confidence,” Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said.

The winning possession was set up by Alabama’s struggles from the free-throw line. With the Crimson Tide leading by a point, Kira Lewis Jr. went to the line and made only 1 of 2.

“Even if he would have made it, we would have tried to tie the game up with a 3,” Starks said. “It did give us a little bit of life once he missed the free throw.”

Up to the final possession, Starks had struggled, shooting just 3 of 16 for nine points. The Aggies turned to the combination of Savion Flagg and Josh Nebo to score on the inside with a combined 37 points.

They both finished with seven rebounds, which led the team.

“They had a stretch there, where for whatever reason, we were just out of position on post defense, especially on Nebo,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “He got the ball where he wanted to.”

The Aggies outscored the Crimson Tide by 48-30 inside the 3-point line.

Of the 40 minutes of the game, Alabama led for 36 minutes.

John Petty had his best game of the season for the Crimson Tide, scoring 22 points off six 3-pointers. Donta Hall recorded his seventh double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points and a season-high 16 rebounds.

Alabama has struggled holding onto a lead, and Saturday wasn’t any different. It built an 11-point lead by the end of the first half, and early in the second half, led by 12. Halfway through the second half, its lead was down to three, and it gave up its first lead of the game at the 7:34 mark.

“I just feel like they went on a run down the stretch,” Alabama forward Tevin Mack said. “Time ended up being on their side. We didn’t have enough time down the stretch for us to make our run.”

Kansas 73, Baylor 68

WACO (AP) — Lagerald Vick did on his 22nd birthday for No. 7 Kansas what he also does in so many other games. He made some big three-pointers, even if the ending was a bit shaky.

Vick scored 18 points with six three-pointers before a couple of late turnovers as the Jayhawks held on for a 73-68 win at Baylor on Saturday.

“First 36 minutes, I thought he was great,” coach Bill Self said, repeating what he also said after the rest of the team. “Made a couple of hard shots at the end of the clock. He played really well. He didn’t play like a senior down the stretch.”

Vick hit two of his threes in an 11-3 run in the final 1:44 of the first half to put the Jayhawks (14-2, 3-1 Big 12) up by 10 at the break after they blew almost all of a 16-point lead. Kansas then led by double-digits for most of the second half before Baylor’s eight consecutive points in the final minute, when Vick had two turnovers.

Jared Butler hit a 3 with 54 seconds left and Mark Vital made a basket before Devonte Bandoo’s three after Vick’s second turnover in that span got the Bears within 72-68. The Jayhawks missed three free throws down the stretch.

Kansas had a 23-point lead with 6 1/2 minutes left, and had to hold on in that final frantic minute.

Prairie View 79, Texas Southern 73

PRAIRIE VIEW (AP) — Gerard Andrus scored a season-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds as Prairie View edged Texas Southern 79-73 on Saturday night.

Gary Blackston added 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Panthers (5-11, 3-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) who notched their fourth straight win. Darius Williams added 13 points and Dennis Jones had 10 points with seven assists.

The Panthers led throughout the second half though Texas Southern threatened midway, closing to 52-51 before a dunk by Devonte Patterson, a jumper by Andrus and a Jones layup pushed it to 58-51 with 7:52 to play. Andrus’ layup with just under two minutes left gave the Panthers a 75-64 advantage.

Jeremy Combs scored a season-high 23 points with a career-best 20 rebounds for the Tigers (7-9, 2-1). John Jones added 13 points and Eden Ewing had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

WOMEN
No. 11 Texas 64, No. 20 Iowa State 62

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Sug Sutton had 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and Joyner Holmes had a big block as No. 11 Texas survived two missed shots in the closing seconds to edge No. 20 Iowa State 64-62 on Saturday.

The Longhorns (14-2, 4-0 Big 12), who have won seven straight, used a 15-0 run in the third quarter to build a double-figure lead. The Cyclones rallied from 10 down in the fourth and had a chance to tie or win it at the end.

Iowa State made it a two-point game with 44 seconds left forced Texas into a shot-clock violation with 13.3 seconds to play. After a couple of timeouts, Holmes blocked a layup attempt by Alexa Middleton with five seconds to go. The Cyclones got the rebound but Bridget Carleton’s 15-footer was off the mark as time ran out.

Carleton led Iowa State (13-3, 3-1) with 20 points and Kristin Scott had 15, and both had nine rebounds.

Texas shot 51 percent but had 17 turnovers. Iowa State shot just 34 percent with eight turnovers.

No. 4 Baylor 79, TCU 55

FORT WORTH (AP) — Juicy Landrum and the No. 4 Baylor Lady Bears are settling in coming off the hype of ending then-No. 1 UConn’s 126-game regular-season winning streak.

Now coach Kim Mulkey thinks her team might even get a little rest.

Landrum scored a career-high 23 points, Kalani Brown had 16 points and four blocks and the Lady Bears went on a huge first-half run before coasting to a 79-55 victory over TCU on Saturday.

Nine days removed from the 68-57 win over UConn, Baylor (13-1, 3-0 Big 12) won a third straight conference game since, holding the Horned Frogs without a field goal in the second quarter.

A 20-0 spurt started late in the first quarter and covered most of the second, when the Lady Bears outscored TCU 19-2 for a 35-11 halftime lead.

“We’ve had a remarkable little run here,” Mulkey said. “So now we’ll get to rest a little bit tomorrow and start back.”

It was the 15th time this season Baylor has scored at least 10 straight points, including one in each of its three Big 12 games. The Lady Bears beat TCU for the 26th consecutive time, 14 of those since the Horned Frogs joined the Big 12 in 2012-13.

Amy Okonkwo scored 20 points for TCU (11-4, 1-3), which missed all 10 shots in the second quarter and finished the first half at 14 percent (3 of 21) coming off a 38-point loss at Iowa State.