Jamal Shead scored 13 points and dished out eight assists in No. 2 UH’s win over SMU on Thursday night. | Anh Le/The Cougar
Two of the past three years, Moody Coliseum was not friendly to Houston. The Cougars flipped the script on Thursday night as No. 2 UH cruised past the Mustangs 80-65 in its final regular-season meeting with its in-state rival as a member of the American Athletic Conference.
Jamal Shead made everything he did look easy. When the junior guard saw some space, he drove by his defender for an easy bucket. When the defense collapsed on him, Shead found the open teammate on his way to 13 points and eight assists
With just over six minutes left in the first half, Shead went on a personal 7-0 run to put UH up 10. This started a stretch of eight-straight made field goals for the Cougars, who went into the half up 43-29.
Back in his hometown of Dallas, Marcus Sasser caught fire in the second half, hitting three 3-pointers to pile onto a UH lead that grew as large as 23 points. Sasser ended the night with 20 points, 17 coming in the second half.
Jarace Walker, a projected NBA lottery pick, opened up the second half with a bang, throwing down a one-handed slam on a lob from Shead. Walker finished with 14 points.
SMU closed the gap with a late 15-3 run but could not trim but UH hit its free throws down the stretch to prevent the Mustangs from getting any closer.
Tramon Mark and J’Wan Roberts both flirted with double-doubles. Mark scored 11 points and pulled down nine boards and Roberts added eight points and 10 rebounds.
With the win, UH (24-2, 12-1 AAC) keeps its two-game cushion atop the AAC standings with five games remaining in the regular season.
