Huge first half carries No. 7 Houston over Arizona State
Kingston Flemings scored 20 points and dished out eight assists to lead a balanced offensive attack as No. 7 Houston parlayed a dominant first half and a late statement surge into a 103-73 win over visiting Arizona State on Sunday night.
The Cougars (17-1, 5-0 Big 12 Conference) left little to chance with a dynamite start that produced a 27-point lead at halftime. Houston built its advantage to 33 points two minutes into the second half before cruising the rest of the way to capture its 11th straight victory and 15th in a row at home.
The Sun Devils made a spirited charge to get back in the game through the middle of the second half, culling their deficit to 13 points before the Cougars reasserted themselves with a 9-0 run.
Chris Cenac Jr. added 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Houston while Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan had 16 points apiece and Joseph Tugler hit for 12. The Cougars' 103 points were a season high and the first time this season they broached the century mark.
Andrija Grbovic led Arizona State (10-8, 1-4) with 14 points. Anthony Johnson added 12 and Bryce Ford and Noah Meeusen finished with 10 points each.
The Cougars roared out of the gate, scoring the game's first nine points and building a 17-2 lead on Tugler's layup after a Cenac steal four minutes into the first half. Houston pushed its advantage to 22 points on a pullup jumper by Flemings at the 14:21 mark and then to 30-5 when Flemings hit back-to-back layups, the latter with 11:39 to play before halftime.
Arizona State had no choice but to try to chip away at its huge deficit and used a 10-2 run capped by Meeusen's layup with 9:54 remaining in the half to pull to 32-15. The Sun Devils trailed by 20 points after Meeusen's 3-pointer with 2:19 to go but the Cougars reeled off the half's final seven points and led 56-29 at the break.
The 56 points were a season high in a half for Houston. Cenac led all scorers with 12 points before halftime while Sharp had nine and four other Houston players had eight points each.
Meeusen and Ford scored eight points apiece to lead the Sun Devils in the half; Arizona State committed 12 turnovers that Houston turned into 22 points over the first 20 minutes.