Senior center Josh Carlton had 20 points in the Cougars 80-47 win over Texas State Wednesday night at the Fertitta Center. | Steven Paultanis/The Cougar
No. 13 Houston blew by Texas State University in a 80-47 win Wednesday night at Fertitta Center and secured win No. 11 on the young season.
The game got off to a scary start for the short-handed Cougars as sophomore guard Jamal Shead limped off court just a minute and a half in and freshman guard Ramon Walker Jr. had to check-in. Shead returned to the game minutes later.
Junior guard Marcus Sasser got going early, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers to put the Cougars up 15-8 early in the first half.
UH took the momentum and ran with it.
The Cougars quickly went on a 14-2 run to take a commanding 29-10 lead by the 7:21 mark in the first half. Sasser had nine points already off three 3-pointers.
UH knocked down seven of its first 12 threes and shot 58 percent as a team during the first half.
Offensive domination that included nine made three-pointers put UH up 45-22 at the half led by senior center’s Josh Carlton 14 points, four rebounds and blocked shot.
The Bobcats came out of the halftime break with a sense of urgency as they hit their first four shots in the second half to get the lead back under 20, but it was a back and forth battle and the Cougars got going again quick.
A made three-pointer from senior guard Kyler Edwards and a slam from Carlton quickly sparked another big run for the Cougars. UH went on to score 17 unanswered points and pushed the lead to 36 points with under ten minutes to play in the second half.
The dry spell for Texas State lasted seven and a half minutes before senior guard Mason Harrell knocked down a jumper to end the Bobcats scoring drought.
The lead eventually grew as large as 41 and the Cougars found themselves at the receiving end of a runaway victory over the Bobcats.
Carlton led the team in both scoring and rebounding with 20 points and five boards in the contest.
Shead notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists on the night.
Sasser scored 13 points.
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