Fabian White Jr. had 18 points and 14 rebounds and Quentin Grimes had 15 of his 17 points in the second half to help No. 21 Houston to a 64-57 home-court win over Memphis in American Athletic Conference action on Sunday afternoon.
Grimes, who did not play because of a hip pointer when the Cougars (23-8, 13-5 AAC) lost 60-59 at Memphis on Feb. 22, outscored the Tigers for most of the second half until the waning minutes.
Memphis (21-10, 10-8) finished with 27 points on 8-of-22 shooting after halftime. Grimes had his 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
Precious Achiuwa led the Tigers with 25 points and 15 rebounds. Lester Quinones added 10 points and six rebounds.
Nate Hinton added 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting for the Cougars.
Grimes, White and Hinton combined to shoot 19 of 36 from field while their teammates were 4 of 31. Houston shot 34.3 percent from the field and only 23.1 percent from 3-point range (3-for-13). The Cougars also made only 15 of 23 attempts (65.2 percent) from the free throw line.
Houston missed its first eight shots from 3-point range until Grimes finally made one with 9:24 left to put the Cougars ahead 42-41.
The game, which had seven lead changes and five ties, was close until Grimes, formerly of Kansas, scored all of Houston's points in an 8-0 run to take a 47-41 lead with 7:44 left in regulation.
Hinton's 3-pointer with 1:38 left gave Houston its biggest lead of 61-46.
Memphis shot only 36.0 percent from the field, 25.0 percent from 3-point range (6-for-24), and finished with 17 turnovers.
The Cougars, who finished 9-0 in AAC games at home, scored 18 points off Memphis' turnovers.
They also exploited Memphis inside, scoring 17 points off putbacks. Houston won the rebounding battle 45-41.
--Field Level Media
Memphis | Houston | |
Precious Achiuwa 25 | Scoring | Fabian White Jr. 18 |
Alex Lomax 5 | Assists | Nate Hinton 3 |
Precious Achiuwa 15 | Rebounds | Fabian White Jr. 14 |
Precious Achiuwa 5 | Free Throws Made | Fabian White Jr. 6 |
Lester Quinones 4 | Steals | Nate Hinton 4 |
Precious Achiuwa 1 | Blocks | Chris Harris Jr. 2 |