Feb. 24, 2008

Houston picked up its 20th win of the season with a 71-62 victory against crosstown conference rival Rice on Saturday night. The Cougars improved to 9-3 in conference play, tied with UAB after the Blazers also picked up a win Saturday against SMU, 73-59. UTEP junior Stefon Jackson scored 41 points for the Miners in a 91-62 victory against East Carolina. UTEP moved into a three-way tie with UCF and Southern Miss, who won its third straight game with a 70-59 victory at Tulane. Marshall knocked off UCF, 71-66, in front of the Herd's home crowd. A pair of non-conference games were also played. Top-ranked Memphis dropped its first game of the season to No. 2 Tennessee, 66-62, while Tulsa won its fifth straight game with a 77-58 win over Presbyterian.

HOUSTON 71, RICE 62
HOUSTON, Texas -- Sophomore guard Kelvin Lewis poured in a career-high 22 points to help lead Houston to a 71-62 win over crosstown- and Conference USA rival Rice on Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion.

The game went back and forth until late in the first half when the Cougars broke the game open. After Patrick Britton's free throw gave the Owls a 22-21 lead at the 6:45 mark, the Cougars ended the first half on a 15-4 run and took a 36-26 halftime advantage into the locker room.

The Cougars pushed that advantage to 16 points on several occasions in the second half, with the latest at the 12:51 mark on junior center Marcus Cousin's free throws.

But the Owls took off on an 18-6 run of their own and pulled to within 56-52 when Suleiman Braimoh connected on a pair of free throws. However, that would be as close as the Owls would get the rest of the night. The Cougars went on a 9-2 run over the next 3:49 and enjoyed a 10-point lead following a layup from Lewis.

UH would never lead by fewer than nine points the rest of the way.

Lewis was one of three Cougars to reach double digits in points. Senior guard Robert McKiver scored 18 points, thanks to six 3-pointers, the first time he had not reached 20 points in the team's last seven games.

Junior guard DaShaun Williams posted 11 points with seven rebounds, while senior forward Dion Dowell led all players with nine rebounds.

With the win, the Cougars improved to 20-6 overall and 9-3 in C-USA action. Rice dropped its 16th straight game and fell to 3-23 overall, 0-13 in C-USA games.

The Cougars also recorded their 20th win of the 2007-08 season, the second time during the last three seasons that UH reached that milestone. It was the first time that the Cougars recorded at least two winning seasons in a three-year stretch since 1991-94.

Rice guard Rodney Foster scored 22 points, including six 3-pointers. Foster led the Owl offense, which shot just over 40 percent from the field.

Britton added 10 points, while Braimoh chipped in with a team-high six rebounds.

UAB 73, SMU 59
DALLAS (AP) -- Junior Robert Vaden scored 24 points to lead UAB to a 73-59 win over SMU on Saturday night. Vaden's points came on eight 3-pointers on 17 attempts, both of which tied a school record. Reggie Huffman scored 13 points and hauled down 14 rebounds for the Blazers (19-8, 9-3 Conference USA). Huffman recorded his second double-double in as many games, and his team-leading fifth double-double of the season.

Channing Toney added 11 points, while Lawrence Kinnard contributed nine points and nine rebounds off the bench for the Blazers.

Jon Killen scored 21 points to lead SMU (8-17, 2-10). Bamba Fall added 14 points, and Papa Dia had nine points and 11 rebounds.

UAB outrebounded the Mustangs 46-34. The Blazers shot 44 percent from the field for the game, while SMU shot just 33 percent.

SMU led 32-29 at the break before being outscored 44-27 in the second half.

The Mustangs led by as many as eight points (45-37) with just under 15 minutes left in the contest. However, the Blazers responded with a 32-9 run over the next nine minutes to take a commanding 69-54 lead with 5:20 remaining. The run was sparked by Vaden, who went 7-of-8 from three-point range over the stretch.

UTEP 91, EAST CAROLINA 62
EL PASO, Texas -- Junior Stefon Jackson scored a career high 41 points as UTEP blasted East Carolina, 91-62, on Saturday at the Don Haskins Center.

The victory moved the Miners (16-9, 7-5 C-USA) into a tie for fourth place in the Conference USA standings with Southern Miss and UCF. The top four teams receive byes in the first round of the C-USA Championship.

Jackson scored UTEP's first 16 points to start the second half as the Miners extended a 37-26 lead to 53-36. He finished with 30 points in the second half, marking the fifth time this season that he has scored 20 or more in a period.

Jackson became the third Miner to score 40 points in a game, and the first since Antoine Gillespie netted 45 points against Hawaii on Feb. 17, 1994. Jim Barnes had five 40-point games for the Miners in the '60s.

The 21 free throws made and 27 attempted by Jackson are Conference USA records. He also tied the school record for free throws made and set the school standard for free throw attempts.

And he also picked up his seventh career double-double with 11 rebounds while playing in front of his grandmother Lena Jackson, who was making her first visit to El Paso.

Randy Culpepper and Marvin Kilgore each scored 11 points for UTEP. The only bad news for the Miners was Culpepper's 23-game streak with a three pointer -- five games shy of the school record -- came to an end as he was 0-for-4 from beyond the arc.

John Fields was the only player in double figures for East Carolina with 13 points. The Pirates shot 24 percent in the first half and 28.8 percent on the night.

UTEP and East Carolina combined to shoot 85 free throws, as the Miners were 34-for-50 at the stripe and the Pirates were 26-for-35.

SOUTHERN MISS 70, TULANE 59
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Sophomore Jeremy Wise scored 27 points, including 19 in the second half, as Southern Miss won for the first time at Tulane since 2004, defeating the Green Wave, 70-59, Saturday night at Fogelman Arena.

The win gave the Golden Eagles a season sweep of Tulane for the first time since the 2003-04 season, while handing Southern Miss (15-11, 7-5 C-USA) its second consecutive road win after dropping its first eight.

"This was a flip from last year," said Southern Miss head coach Larry Eustachy. "We hung in there. We changed the defense up. This team has grown up so much from a few months ago. They have just matured, they're more professional, and I'm really pleased by that. I just really like their togetherness, and the way they're playing as team right now."

The teams battled throughout the first half, going shot-for-shot for the first eight minutes. With Tulane (15-11, 5-7 C-USA) ahead 16-15, the Green Wave went on an 11-3 run, capped off by Kevin Sims' third three-pointer of the half to give Tulane a 27-18 lead.

But, the Golden Eagles came right back, outscoring the Green Wave, 13-5, go into halftime down just one, 32-31.

For the half, Tulane shot 57.1 percent (12-of-21) including 5-of-9 from behind the arc, while Southern Miss shot 46.2 percent (12-of-26).

After Tulane opened the second half with a lay-up, the Eagles scored the next six points to take a 37-34 lead. However, Kris Richard nailed a three to tie the game and trigger a 10-2 Green Wave run.

Once again, Southern Miss came back, scoring the next three points to retake the lead. The teams traded baskets over the two minutes, until Andre Stephens hit a lay-with ten minutes left to give the Eagles the lead for good, 50-49.

Southern Miss outscored Tulane 20-10 the rest of way, as Wise connected on seven straight free throws to seal the victory.

Along with his 27 points, Wise hit 12-of-14 from the line. Andre Stephens scored 13 points and seven rebounds. Sai'Quon Stone added eight boards in the victory.

Kevin Sims led Tulane with 17 points, including 15 in the first half. Richard added 15 for the Green Wave.

The Golden Eagles were 23-of-48 (47.9%) from the field, while Tulane shot 45.8% (22-48), but was just 3-of-11 in the second half.

MARSHALL 71, UCF 66
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Sophomore Tyler Wilkerson registered his fourth double-double with 22 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to lead Marshall to a 71-66 victory over visiting UCF at the Cam Henderson Center on Saturday.

Wilkerson and senior guard Mark Dorris each scored 13 points in the second half as the Thundering Herd offense came to life after halftime. Marshall (15-11, 7-6 Conference USA) led 25-24 at intermission and nearly doubled its point output in the second half.

Dorris finished with 18 points. He made a career-high 15 trips to the free-throw line, sinking a career-best 12 tosses, and added four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Dorris' efforts helped the Herd get to the free-throw line 32 times for the second straight game, yet this time Marshall sank 27 free throws (84.4 percent) as opposed to only 19 last game versus UTEP.

UCF's Mike O'Donnell opened the game with a 3-pointer, but Marshall responded with the first of its 15 second-chance points. Markel Humphrey, the recipient of a Wilkerson pass after an offensive rebound, dunked home the Herd's first points of the game.

Jermaine Taylor, who torched the Herd for 34 points in the season's first matchup on Feb. 6, scored his only first-half field goal via an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Chip Cartwright to give the Knights (14-12, 7-5) a 9-8 edge.

Neither team pulled ahead by more than four points in a tight first half. Both teams shot 50 percent or better in an up-and-down second half. The 6-foot-8 Wilkerson opened the second stanza with his third 3-pointer of the season, sparking the Herd to a 13-4 half-opening run. A tip-in by Humphrey was quickly followed by a Dorris steal and fast break dunk by Wilkerson that electrified the 5,150 in attendance.

Taurean Marshall capped the run and pushed the Herd's lead to double-digits, 38-28 at 14:58, with his runner from the base line. He played 12 minutes, his longest playing time since returning from a knee injury on Feb. 6 at UCF. The senior scored six points (4-4 FT) with three assists and a steal.

A Darryl Merthie jumper gave Marshall its biggest lead, 44-33, with 11:38 remaining. Taylor, after a 1-for-7 first half, awoke with back-to-back 3-pointers to slice the Knight deficit to five points with nine minutes to go.

The Herd led 62-54 with 1:25 remaining but UCF closed to within four points, 65-61, with 22 seconds left after a Mike Battle trey. T. Marshall and Dorris nailed all four Herd free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the win.

Marshall held Taylor, C-USA's leading scorer in league play with 24.1 ppg, to only 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting. Herd senior Pierre-Marie Altidor Cespedes got the defensive assignment on Taylor for much of the game.

O'Donnell launched a career-high 16 three-point attempts (4-for-16) for a team-high 20 points as the Knights finished 10-for-29 from distance. Marshall sank a season-low two 3-pointers (2-for-13).

MU freshman Tirrell Baines netted 10 points while Humphrey scored eight points with eight rebounds and four assists.

The Herd shot 55.6 percent after halftime and out-rebounded UCF 35-31.

(2) TENNESSEE 66, (1) MEMPHIS 62
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Volunteers' Tyler Smith hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 26.5 seconds left and No. 2 Tennessee knocked off the nation's last unbeaten team, edging top-ranked Memphis 66-62 on Saturday night.

Memphis (26-1) lost at home for the first time since Jan. 2, 2006, ending the nation's longest home winning streak at 47 games.

"We've just got to learn from it. We lost," Robert Dozier said. "They just out-toughed us. They get every loose ball, every offensive rebound. They just outplayed us."

The Tigers were up when Smith took a pass from Lofton, backed in and hit the jumper for a 62-61 lead. Antonio Anderson missed for Memphis at the other end, and the Tigers were forced to foul.

Tennessee hit a pair of free throws to make it a three-point game, and then wisely fouled before Memphis could go for a tying 3. Instead, freshman Derrick Rose made the first attempt in a 1-and-1, but had to miss the second intentionally, in hopes the Tigers could grab the rebound. However, Tennessee came down with it and Chris Lofton was fouled. He only went 2-of-11 from the field, but calmly sank the two foul shots that finished off the Tigers' perfect record.

Rose led Memphis with 23 points, while Chris Douglas-Roberts was the only other player in double figures with 14 points.

TULSA 77, PRESBYTERIAN 58
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Sophomore Ben Uzoh scored 15 of his game-high 28 points in the first half to lead Tulsa to a 77-58 victory Saturday over Presbyterian.

Uzoh dominated the Blue Hose, scoring on three-pointers, running one-handers, a dunk and a tip-in, as well as playing a good defensive game.

"He's really worked on his shooting and he shot it well today," Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik said.

Tulsa (15-10), which has won its last five games, jumped out to 39-21 halftime lead.

Uzoh was hot all game, hitting 10 of 14 shots, including six of eight three-pointers.

"This gives us all the confidence in the world," said Uzoh. "We're playing pretty good basketball right now."

The Golden Hurricane led by as many as 24 points at 61-37 midway through the second half. Freshman Glenn Andrews and Jerome Jordan added 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the Golden Hurricane.