UH senior guard Kyler Edwards eclipsed the 1,000 collegiate career point mark in the Cougars win over Oklahoma State on Saturday night at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. | Esther Umoh/The Cougar
No. 14 Houston held off Oklahoma State in a 72-61 victory on Saturday night at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth to improve to 10-2 on the season.
Senior forward Fabian White Jr. got things going for the Cougars on the offensive end of the floor, scoring seven of UH’s first nine points.
Tied 11-11 midway through the first half, senior guard Kyler Edwards caught fire, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers to put the Cougars up nine. Edwards eclipsed the 1,000 collegiate career point mark on the third of these 3-pointers.
UH extended its lead to 12 with five minutes left in the half thanks to sophomore guard Jamal Shead and junior guard Marcus Sasser combining for a quick 10 points.
Oklahoma State ended the half with a 7-0 run to cut UH’s lead to five going into the locker room.
Coming out of the locker room, the Cowboys picked off where they left off, putting together a 6-0 run to a one-point lead less than four minutes into the second half.
Senior forward Reggie Chaney finally broke the Cougars cold shooting spell, which went back to the 3:30 mark in the first half, with an and-one bucket to give UH the lead back.
UH quickly built its lead back up and remained ahead by two or three possessions late into the second half powered by strong defense, creating second chance points off of offensive rebounds and getting to the free throw line.
Just like the end of the first half, Oklahoma State came roaring back.
A 3-pointer followed by Avery Anderson III followed by a putback dunk by Kalib Boone got the Cowboys back to within two points.
Shead had the answer for the Cougars hitting a floater followed by a 3-ball from the top of the arc to increase UH’s lead back to seven. Shead hit another 3-pointer off a ball fake followed by knocking down a pair of free throws to make it a 10 point game with just under two minutes remaining.
Shead finished with a game-high 18 points and eight assists.
White finished with a double-double, scoring 15 points to go along with 10 boards.
Sasser had 15 points and Edwards added 13 points.
Senior center Josh Carlton led the way for UH on the glass, pulling down 11 rebounds, eight of which were offensive.
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