Second half woes continue to be a problem for the Cougars, as they fell 54-66 Thursday night to the Temple Owls.
The game started off promising, including junior guard Jherrod Stiggers becoming the 45th 1, 000-point scorer in Houston history after hitting a fade-away at 11:12 in the half. Houston looked to take advantage of their final stretch of regular-season basketball as they entered halftime with a 34-29 lead.
Houston has held a halftime lead in five of their last six games, but have been unable to carry momentum into the second half to pull off a win.
Tonight was no different.
Temple went on an 8-0 run to start the second half and took a 37-34 lead with 16:16 remaining, holding Houston off for the remainder of the game.
Redshirt junior guard LeRon Barnes posted his third double-double of the season and also his career, leading Houston with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Junior forward Devonta Pollard added with 14 points and redshirt sophomore forward Danrad Knowles totaled 13 points in the loss.
The Cougars look to rebound at home as they host their American Athletic Conference rivals the USF Bulls at 2 p.m. Sunday, inside of Hofheinz Pavilion. The Bulls claimed a 69-67 win in the rivals’ last meeting on Feb. 26 in Tampa, Fla.
