A second-half block party leads to a Cougars' victory over the Bobcats.
Houston Cougars get hard-fought win over Texas State
Dec 5, 2019, 12:20 am
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Texas State guard Mason Harrell drove to the lane with the intent to score an easy layup for the Bobcats in transition. Unfortunately for Texas State, DeJon Jarreau rejected Harrell's layup in his attempt to cut into the Cougars' lead late in the second half. Jarreau's block on Harrell was one of 10 second-half rejections that played a tremendous factor in the Cougars 68-60 win over Texas State, Wednesday night, inside the Fertitta Center in Houston.
After a subpar defensive performance in the first half, the Bobcats held a 29-28 lead over the Cougars into the break. Houston's defense allowed Texas State to connect on 39% of their shots from the field, 43% from behind the arc. They picked up their defensive intensity in the second half, as the Cougars held the Bobcats to 30% shooting from the floor, 11% on 3-point field attempts.
"Texas State is a hard team to play against, and I'm not sure we could have played this well [in the second half] a month ago," head coach Kelvin Sampson said after the win. "We were trying to figure out how to win the game, and they bought into in the second half."
Coogs with tough win in Fertitta Center on Wednesday night #ForTheCity #GoCoogs https://t.co/RLIZq9tT5W— Houston Men's Hoops 🏀 🐾 (@Houston Men's Hoops 🏀 🐾) 1575518320.0
Jarreau, the junior guard from New Orleans, ended the night with three blocks, to go along with 12 points and five rebounds in the win. Although Jarreau made a few key stops down the stretch, Houston's most impactful defender came from big man Chris Harris Jr. Despite ending the game scoreless, Sampson called Harris the best player on the court, as the senior center recorded a career-high six rejections (all in the second half) and 12 rebounds on the night.
"I feel like I did what my team needed me to do, which was block shots and rebound," Harris said. "I honestly don't think about scoring when I go into the game because my main focus is to rebound and blocks shots every night."
The Cougars outscored the Bobcats 40-31 thanks to a second-half surge by sophomore guard, Quentin Grimes. He scored 16 of his 21 points in the second period, where he shot 6-for-17 from the floor in 37 minutes of play. Forward Fabian White had another productive night, as the forward recorded 15 points (5-11 FG) and six rebounds for the Cougars.
With their fourth game win streak coming to an end in Houston, Nijal Pearson led the Bobcats in scoring with 17 points on 5-for-16 shooting before fouling out in the final minute of the game.
Following the win, the Houston Cougars will hit the road to Columbia S.C. for a Sunday showdown against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Tip-off is slated for 11 A.M. C.T.
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Marcell Ozuna hit his major league-leading eighth homer and Orlando Arcia’s RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
It completes a three-game sweep of the struggling Astros and is Atlanta’s fourth straight victory.
The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4-4. Michael Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and there was one out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.
Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.
Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a fly out by Yainer Diaz but Jeremy Peña grounded into a double play to end it.
A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win and Raisel Iglesias earned his fifth save.
Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. added his first homer of the season to help the Braves to the victory. Ozuna also leads the majors with 23 RBIs and he extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the longest active streak in the majors.
Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubón both homered for the Astros, who fell to 6-14 and are last in the AL West.
There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats in left field to put Houston up 1-0.
Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off the wall and tied the game.
Acuña put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning to straightaway center field.
The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth and Kyle Tucker’s RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.
Dubón hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houston’s sixth and push the lead to 4-2.
Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman José Abreu when he couldn’t grab a routine ground ball.
There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia to tie it at 4-all.
Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.
Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings.
UP NEXT
Braves: Atlanta is off Thursday before opening a series against Texas on Friday night with LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound.
Astros: Houston is also off Thursday before ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night against Washington. The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder.