Jamal Shead tallied 25 points for No. 1 Houston on Thursday night, and the Cougars emerged with an 83-66 victory over visiting Wichita State.
The win marked the 10th straight for Houston (28-2, 16-1 AAC), as Marcus Sasser scored 24 points and Jarace Walker chipped in with 11. The AAC regular-season champions pulled away behind a 6-0 run late in the second half.
Wichita State — without the aid of leading scorer Jaykwon Walton, who was unavailable due to illness — hung in the contest through the first half and into the second before Houston gained separation late. Craig Porter Jr. had 13 of his 17 points in the first half to pace the Shockers (15-14, 8-9 AAC) and Jaron Pierre Jr. added 16.
Houston, which led 33-31 at halftime, began the second half on a 12-6 run, guided by seven points from Shead. The two-point advantage swelled to a 45-37 lead by the 15:20 mark, and just over a minute later, J’wan Roberts took a bounce pass underneath Houston’s basket before slamming the ball down in a momentum-gaining dunk.
A 10-2 Wichita State run put the Shockers back in contention as the clock ticked below 10 minutes. Pierre’s fast-break layup cut the Houston lead to just 55-51, but turnovers plagued the Shockers in the following minutes.
Wichita State turned the ball over 10 times in the second half, including three times in the span of a 5-0 Houston spurt that put the Cougars up by nine at the 8:17 mark.
The key stretch for Houston came with under six minutes left, after Wichita State cut the advantage back to single digits, 65-56. A 7-2 run for the Cougars, powered by a 3-pointer and a three-point play from Shead, put Houston up by 14. The Cougars led by double digits the rest of the way.
The Shockers, who dropped the first meeting of the season against Houston at home, 70-61, sought revenge in the early minutes of the contest. Xavier Bell and Porter Jr. made back-to-back 3-pointers, sparking a 10-0 run from Wichita State. Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson had no choice but to call a timeout, trailing 22-14.
Houston took advantage of Wichita State turnovers to forge a 9-0 run and regain the lead. Reggie Chaney’s layup just before the buzzer gave the Cougars the lead at the halftime intermission.
–Field Level Media
