Marcus Sasser scored 19 points and Jamal Shead hit the go-ahead jumper with 48 seconds left as No. 2 Houston overcame a sluggish start to rally for a 49-44 victory over visiting Kent State on Saturday.

Sasser shot 5 of 16 from the field, including 1 of 10 from 3-point range, to go along with five rebounds and two assists, while J’Wan Roberts added 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Shead finished with six points and five rebounds.

Houston (6-0), which trailed by six points early in the second half, shot a season-low 16 of 50 (32 percent) from the field, including 2 of 17 (11.8 percent) from 3-point range, in addition to outrebounding the Golden Flashes 56-33.

Kent State (5-2) was led by VonCameron Davis, who had a team-high 14 points to go along with four rebounds. Sincere Carry, who averaged a team-high 19.8 points, was held to just nine points by going 2 of 22 from the field, including 1 of 11 from beyond the arc. Carry did collect eight steals, while Malique Jacobs had 11 points and a team-leading seven rebounds.

The Golden Flashes shot 15 of 63 (23.8 percent) from the field, including 6 of 29 (20.7 percent) from beyond the arc.

Trailing 30-24 with 16:11 left in the game, Tramon Mark and Sasser hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 15-0 run to take a 39-30 lead following Ja’Vier Francis’ free throw with 10:42 to go.

The Golden Flashes responded by going on a 14-4 run to take a 44-43 lead on Jacobs’ 3-pointer with 1:05 remaining.

Shead countered with a short jumper with 48 seconds remaining to give Houston the lead. Jarace Walker blocked Carry from close range and Sasser hit two free throws to push the lead to 47-44 with 28 seconds left.

The Golden Flashes missed a pair of 3-point attempts on their next possession and Sasser secured the win with two free throws with 12 seconds left.

After Kent State took a 15-5 lead on Davis’ layup with 13:52 left in the first half, the Cougars chipped away at the lead and took a 24-22 advantage at halftime.

–Field Level Media

Joel Soriano delivered double-double Saturday afternoon, setting career highs with 21 points and 19 rebounds as host St. John’s fended off a second-half rally by Niagara to earn a 78-70 victory at New York.

It was the fourth consecutive double-double and sixth in the last seven games for Soriano, who set a career-high in points for the second straight game. The senior forward had 19 points in a 76-69 overtime win over Syracuse on Wednesday night.

Soriano’s previous single-game high for rebounds was 18 set against Nebraska on Nov. 17.

David Jones, O’Mar Stanley, Dylan Addae-Wusu and Montez Mathis each had 10 points for St. John’s (7-0), which last opened a season with seven straight wins when it began 12-0 in 2018-19.

Noah Thomasson scored 24 points for Niagara (3-3), which had its three-game winning streak snapped. The Purple Eagles, a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, cut a 19-point deficit to five points at 57-52 with 8:11 remaining.

The Red Storm regained control with a 7-0 run for a 64-52 advantage with 6:50 remaining.

Sam Iorio and Lance Erving had 12 points each for the Purple Eagles.

Iorio opened the game with a 3-pointer to give Niagara its lone lead. A jumper by Andre Curbelo put St. John’s ahead for good at 10-8 with 15:21 left in the opening half and started an 8-0 run.

Niagara got within five points twice more in the first half before AJ Storr and Soriano teamed up on a 9-0 run to extend St. John’s lead to double digits for the first time, ultimately building a 30-16 advantage. The Purple Eagles closed the deficit to eight before the Red Storm entered halftime with a 37-28 lead.

St. John’s opened the second half with a 14-4 run to take its biggest lead at 51-32 with 15:03 remaining. Niagara responded with a 20-6 run and closed out the spurt with 12 straight points, including seven by Iorio, to cut into the Red Storm lead.

Stanley hit a pair of free throws to start St. John’s decisive 7-0 run and the Red Storm let by at least eight points the rest of the way.

–Field Level Media

The Yale Bulldogs head to Boulder, Colo., unranked, so that could be a problem for the Colorado Buffaloes.

Colorado (3-3) has shined against ranked opponents, beating Texas A&M and Tennessee — who beat No. 3 Kansas on Friday — but has lost to Grambling, Boise State and UMass.

The Buffaloes will try to reverse that trend when they host Yale (6-0) on Sunday afternoon.

Colorado is coming off a 68-55 loss to Boise State in the fifth-place game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational on Nov. 20. The Buffaloes were without J’Vonne Hadley for the second straight game and Tristan da Silva didn’t play in the second half due to a migraine.

“When he’s out and J’Vonne Hadley is out, we’re pretty exposed in that front line,” Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said.

The Buffaloes have played just one home game so getting back to a familiar court might help their consistency.

“We keep going back and forth — win loss, win loss,” Nique Clifford said. “We’ve just got to get back to the drawing board when we get back. Practice hard and just figure out what we’re doing wrong. We’ve got to play harder as a team.”

The Bulldogs have rolled through their early schedule, winning the Outrigger Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, which included a 62-59 overtime win over Hawaii.

They’ve won every other game by double digits, the latest a 73-44 victory over Vermont on Tuesday. Yale trailed at halftime, which was just the second time it had all season.

“I have a really good staff, and everyone made great suggestions to the team (at halftime) on what we needed to do to be better,” coach James Jones said.

The Bulldogs will see a familiar face Sunday. Jalen Gabbidon, who played for Yale the past three seasons, transferred to Colorado for his final year of eligibility. Gabbidon is averaging 8.8 points this season.

–Field Level Media

Coming off a gut-wrenching loss to Kansas State in the Cayman Islands Classic finale, LSU aims to bounce back Sunday when it hosts Wofford in Baton Rouge, La.

On Wednesday the Tigers appeared to have tied the game against the Wildcats on a layup by Trae Hannibal as time expired, but the shot was waved off because of an issue with the clock starting on the inbounds play. The Tigers (5-1) were left on the short end of a 61-59 loss as a result.

That issue aside, turnovers didn’t help their cause as they had 14 in the second half and 17 for the game. The Tigers also shot just 50 percent from the free-throw line.

“We turned it over 14 times and shot 50 percent on our free throws. It’s hard to win when you do those two things,” LSU head coach Dave McMahon told the Advocate.

But McMahon continues to be encouraged by his team’s effort.

“I can’t fault our players for their great effort on the floor. We just couldn’t score enough points in the second half to win.”

As for Wofford (4-2), it’s riding a three-game winning streak into its battle with the Tigers and searching for its first road win. The Terriers beat North Greenville 70-59 on Wednesday.

LSU is one of two SEC schools Wofford plays this coming week as it travels to Vanderbilt next Saturday.

Freshman Jackson Paveletzke has played a key role for the Terriers, tied for the team lead in points with B.J. Mack at 16.5 points per outing. Paveletzke is also their top playmaker, dishing out a team-best 23 assists (3.8 per game).

“Paveletzke is fearless. He doesn’t play like a freshman,” Wofford head coach Jay McAuley told WSPA 7 News earlier this season.

LSU has two players averaging better than 16 points per game in KJ Williams (17.3) and Adam Miller (16.3). The Tigers have scored 70 or more points four times and are 3-0 at home.

–Field Level Media

No. 8 Duke and No. 24 Purdue have found lots to be happy about so far in two games in the Phil Knight Legacy.

A tournament championship would certainly cap off the three-game experience.

The Blue Devils (6-1) and Boilermakers (5-0) meet in the tournament final Sunday afternoon in Portland, Ore.

For Purdue, it’s a chance to knock off a Top 10 team in back-to-back games after taking down No. 6 Gonzaga 84-66 in Friday’s late semifinal.

“They’re out there playing with purpose and that’s what you have to have,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Early in the season, very few teams play with purpose collectively.”

Duke will try to repeat its three-game success from the 2017 tournament in Portland. The Blue Devils are 5-0 all-time in the Phil Knight events.

Jeremy Roach’s 21-point outing in Friday’s semifinal against Xavier was one shy of the junior guard’s career-high mark for Duke. It was also the first 20-point game this season by a Blue Devils player.

“It’s awesome to have him getting those shots and leading the team in general, offensively and defensively,” Duke forward Ryan Young said.

In the 71-64 victory against Xavier, Duke addressed the trouble spots on offense from the opening-round squeaker against Oregon State. The Blue Devils shot 26.7 percent from the field in that game.

“I think we were hesitating a little bit, myself included,” Roach said. “We hesitated a little bit, not confident all the way with the shots. We just want to shoot our shots with confidence.”

First-year coach Jon Scheyer said Roach seemed comfortable in key moments, another development that’s starting to percolate across the Duke roster.

“Whether it’s for him or for somebody else, he got some really good looks, really good quality looks,” Scheyer said. “And then you, of course, have to follow it up with a stop, and we did that enough times to get some separation.”

Freshman Kyle Filipowski of Duke has scored in double figures in every game. He had five games in a row as the team’s leading scorer.

“I’ve said it a million times but it’s awesome to come out here and have so many different weapons,” Young said.

Scheyer was more intrigued with how the Blue Devils responded defensively. They gave up only two points in the final five minutes Friday.

“Winning and to close out a game it’s not about scoring, it’s about getting stops,” Scheyer said.

Duke has outrebounded every opponent this season, though the 33-32 margin on Xavier snapped a program-record string of six double-figure rebounding margins.

During Saturday’s day off between games, the Blue Devils planned to look at ways to put together better stretches in the opening minutes and cut down on foul trouble that could become a hindrance.

Purdue’s 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey could pose another type of challenge for Duke. He scored 23 points against Gonzaga, though his streak of double-doubles ended at four. He has posted at least 20 points in the past four games.

Purdue won a regular-season tournament last November by toppling North Carolina and Villanova in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic in Uncasville, Conn.

–Field Level Media