Kyler Edwards had a career high of 29 points in Saturday night’s win over Tulsa, he had seven threes in the process. | Sean Thomas/The Cougar
No. 11 Houston held off Tulsa 66-64 on the road in Oklahoma Saturday night inside the Donald W. Reynolds Center behind a career high 29 points from senior guard Kyler Edwards.
The Cougars struggled to find the basket early, connecting on just two of their first eight shots from the field with both coming from graduate forward Josh Carlton who also had three rebounds in the first four minutes.
Just over four minutes, sophomore guard Jamal Shead had to exit the game after appearing to have rolled his right ankle. He would not return in the contest.
After the stop in play, UH went on a quick 10-0 run ignited by a pair of 3-pointers from Edwards to go up 17-5 about halfway through the first half.
The Golden Hurricane found its rhythm after the big run by the Cougars, scoring three straight baskets to cut the lead in half on a quick 6-0 run while UH went ice cold from the field.
After five missed baskets in a row, the four and a half minute dry spell for the Cougars was finally ended by Edwards, who knocked down his third 3-pointer of the night, but Tulsa immediately answered with a 3-pointer of its own.
A layup from redshirt sophomore Ja’Wann Roberts and a made three from graduate guard Taze Moore got the Cougar lead back up to 12 with 5:13 to play in the half.
A scuffle with 1:24 left in the second half led to a technical foul being issued to graduate center Fabian White Jr. and after free throws were taken by both teams the Cougars were able to close the half out on a 9-0 run after a buzzer-beating three by Moore.
Edwards went into the break with 18 points to lead all scorers. Senior forward Reggie Chaney also had eight points and three rebounds in the half.
The Golden Hurricane came out the half with back-to-back layups.The Cougars answered with another 3-pointer from Edwards but Tulsa kept their foot on the gas after back-to-back 3-pointers from Golden Hurricane senior forward Jeriah Horne to spark a 12-3 run to cut the lead Cougar lead to 8.
The big run from Tulsa led by Horne continued, the Golden Hurricane made it a 50-49 game with under 11 minutes to play.
Horne scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half alone.
Edwards knocked down his seventh three-pointer of the night, giving him a career high of 26 points and sparking a late run for UH to bring the lead back up to double digits late in the second half.
Tulsa still wouldn’t go away, three straight 3-pointers made it a two point game again with under a minute to play.
A massive save from Moore gave the Cougars one last possession to put the game away.
Freshman guard Ramon Walker Jr. missed the shot that would have been the dagger, giving the Golden Hurricane one last chance to tie or win the game, but the Cougars pulled off the final stop and secured win number 15 on the year.
