Sophomore guard Quentin Grimes led the Houston Cougars to a big win over the Portland Pilots on Sunday.
Cougars take big win over the Pilots to open Hawaiian Classic
Dec 23, 2019, 6:00 am
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Nate Hinton
The Houston Cougars opened their Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic with an 81-56 victory over the Portland Pilots Sunday afternoon inside the Stan Sheriff Center in Hawaiian. With the win, the Cougars improve to 8-3 on the season and have won six of their last seven games.
After scoring four points on 2-for-15 (13%) shooting from the floor the past two games, sophomore guard Quentin Grimes bounced back in a big way by scoring a game-high 18 points (7-11 FG, 4-7 3PT), all coming in the second half.
It was a wire-to-wire victory for the Cougars after opening the game on a 6-0 run following a made lay-up attempt from junior forward Fabian White — who ended the game with 10 points in the win.
Congrats to @UHCougarMBK for opening the 2019 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic with a dub! #LeiUp #CBB… https://t.co/T8nORSh49d— #LeiUp (@#LeiUp) 1577054979.0
Houston had a solid offensive performance after connecting on 50% of their shots, but the Cougars' defense played the most prominent part in their win. UH held the Pilots to shoot 34.7% from the field, and a poor 29.2% from deep. Senior big man Chris Harris Jr. ended the game with a game-high three blocked shots, to go along with 13 points and five rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
In the loss, Malcolm Porter was the only player to score in double digits for the Pilots, as he led Portland in scoring with 11 points and five rebounds.
Following the win, the Cougars will continue their tour of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic to face off against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Monday night, in the Semifinals. Tip-off is slated for 6 P.M. CT.
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.