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Milestone moment: Alperen Sengun's career night ignites Rockets' victory over Spurs
Mar 6, 2024, 9:47 am
Rockets defeat Spurs, 114-101. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.
Alperen Sengun scored a career-high 45 points with a season-best 16 rebounds to lead the Houston Rockets to a 114-101 win over the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night.
Sengun, who is in his third NBA season, also set a career mark with five steals and had three assists and a block, outplaying rookie French phenom and No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama. He had 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks as San Antonio’s two-game winning streak ended.
“He was a beast,” Jalen Green said. “He was amazing, that’s the Alpi I know.”
Sengun is the fifth player since 1973-74, when steals started being tracked, to have at least 45 points, 15 rebounds and five steals in a game. He joins Anthony Davis, who did it two times, Joel Embiid, James Harden and John Drew. At 21 years and 224 days old, Sengun is the youngest player to record such a line.
Sengun admitted that he was extra motivated to have a good showing against Wembanyama Tuesday after scoring 15 points and nine rebounds in the last meeting with the Spurs.
Career highs in points, field goal attempts, and steals.
Watch @alperennsengun WORK 👏 pic.twitter.com/4UypZVxNq2
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) March 6, 2024
“Yeah of course,” he said. “I didn’t play that good last game against him I can say. I didn’t see that many double teams today. They just left me one-on-one with Wemby, so I just did what I do.
”The Spurs scored five points, with a 3 from Keldon Johnson, to cut the lead to 92-88 with about eight minutes left.
Houston then used a 7-2 run to make it 99-92 midway through the quarter. Wembanyama had two turnovers in that stretch to help Houston pad the lead. The second one came on a steal by Sengun and he drove down the court before making a nifty behind-the-back pass to Cam Whitmore, who finished with a two-handed dunk.
The Rockets were up by 8 late in the fourth before using another 7-2 spurt to make it 114-101. Sengun capped his big night by scoring Houston’s last five points, ending with a 3-pointer.
Jalen Green added 23 points with 10 assists for Houston and Fred VanVleet had 21 points.
The Spurs were led by Devin Vassell, who had 22 points and Branham had 20 points off the bench.
“They were physical from the get-go until the end of the game,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “The came after it that way, they played that way. They put us in the mud, we didn’t respond to it very well and you got the outcome.”
San Antonio’s Jeremy Sochan tripped Amen Thompson while he was on the ground with about 5 ½ minutes left in the third quarter. Thompson got up and immediately pushed Sochan and the two players shoved each other several times before officials and players got between them to break things up.
Sochan received a flagrant 1 foul for tripping Thompson and both players were given technical fouls for the ensuring shoving match.
Houston used a 7-1 run after that to take a 72-67 lead.
Malaki Branham made a 3 for the Spurs after that but Houston scored the next eight points, highlighted by a 3 from VanVleet, to extend the lead to 10.
The Spurs scored the final seven points of the quarter, capped by another 3 from Branham, to get within 80-77 entering the fourth.
UP NEXT
Spurs: Visit Sacramento Thursday night.
Rockets: Host the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night.
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Late fireworks flip the script in thrilling All-Star showdown
Jul 16, 2025, 10:57 am
The Houston Astros entered the 2025 MLB Draft with limited capital but a clear objective: find talent that can help sustain their winning ways without needing a full organizational reboot. With just under $7.2 million in bonus pool money and two forfeited picks, lost when they signed slugger Christian Walker, the Astros needed to be smart, aggressive, and a little bold. They were all three.
A swing on star power
With the 21st overall pick, Houston selected Xavier Neyens, a powerful left-handed high school bat from Mt. Vernon, Washington. At 6-foot-4, Neyens is raw but loaded with tools, a slugger with plus power and the kind of bat speed that turns heads.
He’s the Astros’ first high school position player taken in the first round in a decade.
If Neyens develops as expected, he could be the next cornerstone in the post-Altuve/Bregman era. Via: MLB.com:
It’s possible we’ll look back at this first round and realize that the Astros got the best power hitter in the class. At times, Neyens has looked like an elite hitter who’d easily get to that pop, and at times the swing-and-miss tendencies concerned scouts, which is why he didn’t end up closer to the top of the first round. He was announced as a shortstop, but his size (6-foot-4) and his arm will profile best at third base.
Their next big swing came in the third round with Ethan Frey, an outfielder/DH from LSU who was one of the most imposing college hitters in the country.
He blasted 13 home runs in the SEC and helped lead the Tigers to a championship.
Filling the middle
In the fourth round, the Astros grabbed Nick Monistere, an infielder/outfielder out of Southern Miss who won Sun Belt Player of the Year honors.
If Kendall likes the pick, I like the pick. https://t.co/NQKqEHFxtV
— Jeremy Branham (@JeremyBranham) July 14, 2025
He doesn’t jump off the page with tools, but he rakes, hitting .323 with 21 home runs this past season, and plays with a chip on his shoulder.
They followed that up with Nick Potter, a right-handed reliever from Wichita State. He projects as a fast-moving bullpen piece, already showing a mature approach and a “fastball that was regularly clocked in the upper-90s and touched 100 miles per hour.”
From there, Houston doubled down on pitching depth and versatility. They took Gabel Pentecost, a Division II flamethrower, Jase Mitchell, a high school catcher with upside, and a host of college arms, all in hopes of finding the next Spencer Arrighetti or Hunter Brown.
Strategy in motion
Missing multiple picks, Houston leaned into two things: ceiling and speed to the majors. Neyens brings the first, Frey and Monistere the second. And as they’ve shown in recent years, the Astros can develop arms with late-round pedigree into major league contributors.
The Astros didn’t walk away with flashy headlines, they weren’t drafting in the top 10. But they leave the 2025 draft with a clear direction: keep the farm alive with bats that can produce and arms that can fill in the gaps, especially with the club managing injuries and an aging core.
If Neyens becomes the slugger they hope, and if Frey or Monistere climbs fast, this draft could be another example of Houston turning limited resources into lasting impact.
You can see the full draft tracker here.
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