No. 8 Houston Cougars Beat Jacksonville State 92-46: Thomas Scores 17, Miller Adds 15 as the Cougars Stay Undefeated
Houston scored 19 of the game's next 20 points after a 2-2 tie, held Jacksonville State scoreless from the floor for more than seven minutes, led 45-23 at the half and stretched the margin to 46 in the final seconds. The Cougars are 3-0.
The No. 8 Houston Cougars turned Wednesday night's game at the Fertitta Center into a demonstration. Houston beat Jacksonville State 92-46 to stay undefeated at 3-0, behind 17 points and seven assists from Dedan Thomas Jr. and 15 points from Mercy Miller, 11 of them in the second half.
The game was decided in its first minutes. From a 2-2 tie, Houston scored 19 of the next 20 points, capped by a three-point play from Chendall Weaver that made it 21-3, and held the Gamecocks without a field goal for a stretch of more than seven minutes. Jacksonville State trimmed the margin to 22-12 on a Leon Horner three, but Houston rebuilt it to 45-23 by halftime, outshooting the visitors 44.4 percent to 25 percent and outscoring them 17-5 at the free-throw line. Weaver finished with 10 points off the bench.
The second half opened raggedly before Houston reasserted itself over the final 14 minutes. Miller's layup pushed the lead to 31 with 6:31 to play, his dunk made it 41 with 3:24 left, and the margin reached the final 46 in the closing seconds.
Naas Cunningham led Jacksonville State (1-2) with 13 points off the bench, and Jordan Stiemke added 10 points and seven rebounds. For Houston, the number that matters is the one in the loss column: still zero, three games into the season, with the defense - seven scoreless minutes at a time - already playing like the program's calling card.
