Men's Basketball Sports

UH crushes Northwestern State behind offensive explosion

Sophomore guard Jamal Shead throws down a thunderous two-hand slam in the first half of UH's dominant win over Northwestern state Tuesday night. | Victor Carroll/The Cougar

Sophomore guard Jamal Shead throws down a thunderous two-hand slam in the first half of UH’s dominant win over Northwestern state Tuesday night. | Victor Carroll/The Cougar

No. 15 Houston grabbed win number six on the season in dominating fashion after the Cougars defeated Northwestern State 99-58 Tuesday night in the Fertitta Center.

Junior guard Marcus Sasser got going early, knocking down three of his first four attempts from behind the arc and the Cougars jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the first four minutes.

Turnover trouble plagued the Demons as they four turnovers in the first five minutes alone.

The UH bench made an instant impact, with sophomore guard Tramon Mark and senior center J’wan Roberts both entering the game and knocking down shots to extend the Cougars lead to 23-7.

Senior guard Kyler Edwards added another points 6 off the bench as well for the Cougars.

More turnovers from Northwestern State followed by four straight 3-pointers from Sasser put UH up 52-16 with just over two minutes to play in the half, the four makes from deep gave Sasser 23 points in the first half alone with seven total threes made.

The Cougars went into the half up 60-25, making it by far the most points scored in a half this season for UH.

Shead was the second leading scorer of the first half with 10 points.

Northwestern State opened the second half with a sense of urgency.

After senior center Fabian While Jr. got the first bucket of the half of a made layup, the Demons proceeded to outscore UH 14-5 and forced an early timeout from the Cougars.

After the timeout, UH came right back with a run of their own as they scored 10 straight points with six of them coming off of dunks from graduate guard Taze Moore, making it 77-39 nearly halfway through the second half.

Moore had 13 points in the second half alone and 17 for the game.

The Cougars never took their foot off the gas, the lead got as large as 44 on the night and UH cruised passed  the Demons for the win.

Sasser finished with 26 points with three assists and a rebound, he shot 7 of 14 from three and 9 of 17 overall from the field.

UH out rebounded Northwestern 42-23 and forced 21 turnovers during the game, White led the team in rebounds with eight.

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