Houston 66, Tulane 60: Jherrod Stiggers hit five 3-pointers on the way to 23 points as the 10th-seeded Cougars knocked off seventh-seeded Tulane in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference tournament in Hartford, Conn.

Cavon Baker came off the bench to score all of his career-high 20 points over the last 11 minutes for Houston (13-18), which will play second-seeded Tulsa in Friday’s quarterfinals. Devonta Pollard added 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Cougars, who have won four straight.

Payton Henson hit 6-of-8 from the floor for 14 points for Tulane (15-16) while Jay Hook and Louis Dabney each had 13 points. The Green Wave forced 17 turnovers but were outrebounded 36-25 and went 5-of-14 from the foul line.

Stiggers made two 3-pointers and a jumper to power a 13-3 run that gave Houston a 26-17 lead with four minutes left in the first half. Hook answered with back-to-back triples and Dabney's jumper pulled Tulane within 28-25 by halftime.

Jonathan Stark's 3-pointer cut the lead to two and Dylan Osetkowski tied the game at 36-36 with a free throw with 13 minutes left, but Houston answered with a 15-3 run featuring 12 straight points from Baker for a 51-39 lead with eight minutes left. Baker stopped a 7-0 Tulane run with a putback dunk with less than three minutes left and Tulane had a chance late thanks to a flagrant foul but was unable to convert.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Baker was called for a flagrant foul for tripping a Tulane player after a turnover with 22 seconds left and a four-point lead. Kajon Mack hit just one of the free throws and the Green Wave missed the ensuing 3-pointer. ... Houston, entered the game leading the AAC with 8.1 made 3-pointers, went 9-of-23 from the arc. ... Houston played with seven scholarship players and had no points off the bench until Baker's 6-of-7 shooting performance in the second half.