Caleb Mills and Fabian White Jr. lead the Houston Cougars with a win to close out the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic
Cougars win Hawaiian Classic with victory over Huskies
Dec 25, 2019, 11:19 pm
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It was a holly jolly Christmas for the Houston Cougars as they closed the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic with a 75-71 victory over the No. 21 Washington Huskies Wednesday night inside the Stan Sheriff Center in Hawaii. With the win, the Cougars closed the mid-season tournament as champions while improving to 10-3 on the season.
After a solid performance in their previous game against Georgia Tech, freshman guard Caleb Mills and junior forward Fabian White Jr. scored 19 points apiece to help lead a comeback victory for the Cougars. White earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award while shooting 7-for-13 (53%) from the field.
Down 36-31 at the half, Houston trailed by as many as 14 points early in the first period. Behind a 12-point second-half surge by White, the Cougars outscored the Huskies 44-35 in the final 24 minutes en route to their fourth straight victory.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, @UHouston fans Santa brought us a big, heavy 🏆 this year #ForTheCity #GoCoogs https://t.co/N82PvKHOUx— Houston Men's Hoops 🏀 🐾 (@Houston Men's Hoops 🏀 🐾) 1577334484.0
While playing from behind most of the game, the Cougars' offensive woes played the most significant part in their early struggles against the Huskies. Houston only connected on 37.3% of their shots while Washington shot 46.2% from the floor. Sophomore guard Quentin Grimes ended the night with an all-around performance of 14 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals in the win.
In the loss, Isaiah Stewart led the Huskies in scoring with a game-high 25 points (8-for-13 FG, 9-11 FT) to go along with eight rebounds and two blocks.
Following the win, the Cougars will open their American Athletic Conference play with a showdown against UCF on Friday, Jan. 3, inside the Fertitta Center in Houston. Tip-off is slated for 6 P.M. CT.
Gunnar Henderson and Luis Vázquez homered and Trevor Rogers worked seven strong innings as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Houston Astros 3-2 on Sunday to avoid a series sweep.
Rogers (7-2) allowed five hits and three walks and struck out nine. The 27-year-old left-hander moved past two Hall of Famers with his 1.40 ERA through the first 13 starts of a season. Hoyt Wilhelm set the club record with a 1.50 ERA in 1959, and was followed by Jim Palmer’s 1.55 ERA in 1975.Keegan Akin struck out three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings for his third save.
Henderson hit his 16th homer, a solo shot off Spencer Arrighetti (1-5) in the first, to give Baltimore the lead. Ryan Mountcastle had an RBI single in the sixth and Vázquez made it 3-1 in the seventh with his first big league homer.
Arrighetti gave up two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. John Rooney relieved Arrighetti in his debut and allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings. Craig Kimbrel struck out two in a scoreless inning in his first game with the Astros.
Jeremy Peña had an RBI single in the third and Victor Caratini drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth for Houston.
Key moment
Akin entered with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh and allowed only the sac fly to preserve the lead.
Key stat
Arrighetti retired 15 batters in a row following his four-hit first inning.
Up next
Tomoyuki Sugano (10-5, 3.97) gets the start for the Orioles in a home series opener against the Red Sox on Monday.
The Astros turn to Hunter Brown (10-5, 2.36) to lead off a series against the Rockies on Tuesday.