Senior guard DeJon Jarreau rises up for a jump shot against Texas Tech earlier in the season | Courtesy of UH athletics
After losing for the first time all season Tuesday night to Tulsa, No. 5 Houston bounced back behind a strong performance on the boards with a 74-60 victory Sunday evening over SMU, who entered the game undefeated.
Senior guard DeJon Jarreau got things going for UH early, scoring seven straight points in the three minutes of the game to help the Cougars jump out to an early 9-4 lead.
For the next 12 minutes, the two teams went back and forth, trading buckets with their being a total of seven ties and eight lead changes over the course of the first half.
Over the final five minutes of the first half, SMU’s Kendric Davis took over and scored 10 points to give the Mustangs a narrow 33-32 lead going into halftime.
The second half was a series of big runs by both teams.
UH came out of the locker room motivated, opening the second half with a 10-0 run with junior guard Quentin Grimes scoring seven of the 10 points.
The Cougars continued to pour on points early in the second half and extended their lead to 12 points with just under 13 minutes remaining in regulation.
SMU answered with a 12-4 run of its own to make it a 55-51 game.
Once again, UH responded, putting together a quick 8-0 run to extend its lead back up to 12 with just less than fine minutes left in the game.
The Mustangs made one last push to comeback but it was too little and too late as the Cougars were able to hold their ground, hitting their last 15 free throws to secure a 74-60 victory and move to 8-1 on the season.
The Cougars outrebounding the Mustangs by 13, including pulling down 18 offensive rebounds.
Sophomore guard Marcus Sasser led UH in scoring with 17 points.
Senior forward Justin Gorham dominated the boards, pulling down 19 rebounds to go along with 11 points for his second double-double of the season.
Jarreau scored 15 and had eight rebounds and five assists.
