Second-Half Comeback Falls Short as No. 17 Houston Tops Tulsa, 77-65

Sunday, January 27

Reynolds Center

1 PM

Tulsa

12-9, 2-6

Houston

20-1, 7-1

Houston

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Second-Half Comeback Falls Short as No. 17 Houston Tops Tulsa, 77-65

1/27/2019 4:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score (.pdf) | Season Stats (.pdf) | Photo Gallery | Postgame Quotes | Postgame Press Conference

TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa shot 52.4-percent in the second half and went on a 13-1 run to help trim the deficit, but No. 17/17 Houston held on for a 77-65 win over Tulsa on Sunday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

DaQuan Jeffries led the Golden Hurricane (12-9, 2-6) with 17 points to go along with five assists, while Jeriah Horne came off the bench to score 15 points. Martins Igbanu and Sterling Taplin also finished in double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

TU logged 15 assists on its 22 baskets and scored 20 fast-break points. The Hurricane also outscored the Cougars (20-1, 7-1) in the paint, 26-22.

"I'm obviously disappointed," head coach Frank Haith said. "We got off to a slow start and weren't moving like we needed to be moving. In the second half, we were a lot better. When you're trying to beat a really good team like Houston, you can't leave any stones unturned."

"I feel like that second half really showed some glimpses into the team we are capable of being," Horne said. "I think now we have an opportunity at this point in the season where we have to continue to work hard and get it right. We are going to continue to keep working and figure this thing out because we aren't going to give up."

Meanwhile, Armoni Brooks finished with a game-high 22 points to lead Houston, which shot 42.2-percent in the contest and scored 22 second-chance points. Fabian White Jr. added 14 points and freshman Nate Hinton came off the bench to chip in with 13 points.

Sunday's game also served as Tulsa's annual Coaches vs. Cancer game. Coaching staffs from both teams wore sneakers to raise awareness for the fight against cancer. Coach Haith matched all donations made by fans at today's game and that total came to $5,465.40 ($2,732.70 from fans) to be donated to the American Cancer Society.

Fans can still send a flat donation or pledge an amount per 3-pointer made by TU for the rest of the regular season at pledgeit.org/cvc19-tulsa.

An 8-0 Houston run early in the second half stretched the Houston lead to 53-32 and the UH lead remained 21 points with 11 minutes to play.

However, the Horne hit a 3-pointer that sparked a 13-1 run and revitalized the Hurricane and the home crowd. Lawson Korita added a triple before a fast-break dunk from Igbanu. Jeffries continued the momentum with a layup during the stretch and Horne capped the run with an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 63-54 with seven minutes to go.

Houston again extended the lead with the next five points, but Taplin hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final five minutes as the Hurricane got within eight three times down the stretch.

But Brooks sealed the game for Houston with a 3-pointer and four free throws in the final minute.

Both teams started the day strong defensively. Tulsa forced the Cougars into 11 straight misses behind the arc and had early leads of 7-6 and 9-8 following buckets by Darien Jackson and Horne, respectively.

Jeffries kept the home squad in it with three straight baskets, including a highlight-reel dunk through traffic, but Houston finally got on track behind the arc.

The Cougars made five triples in a five-minute span, including three consecutive makes in less than a minute, to gain a 33-21 advantage. Tulsa sliced the deficit to 37-29 after an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:09 left, but Houston closed the half on an 8-0 spurt for a 35-29 lead at the break.

The Hurricane will be back in action at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 30 when it will host Memphis (12-7, 4-2) at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

#ForOurCity