No. 12 Houston breaks away for rout of TCU

Emanuel Sharp scored 14 points, J'Wan Roberts added 12 and the 12th-ranked Houston Cougars rode a second-half rally to a 65-46 victory over the visiting TCU Horned Frogs on Monday.

Baskets by Trazarien White and Vasean Allette to start the second half pulled the Horned Frogs to within 29-26 early in the second half, but

Sharp hit a step-back jumper and a 3-pointer to highlight a 9-0 run. Roberts began that burst with a layup.

Houston (11-3, 3-0 Big 12) extended that rally to 19-4 on a 3-pointer by L.J. Cryer to widen the lead to 48-30.

The Cougars ran their overall winning streak to seven games and its homecourt winning streak to 31 games, the longest in the nation. Cryer finished with 10 points.

Noah Reynolds paced the Horned Frogs (8-6, 1-2) with 19 points while Allette added 11 points and five rebounds.

TCU shot 42.6 percent overall, missed 15 of 18 3-pointers and committed 19 turnovers that Houston converted into 16 points en route to its wire-to-wire victory.

Houston made its initial six shots, including three 3-pointers, while darting to a 15-4 lead. But the Horned Frogs clawed back, forcing the Cougars into eight consecutive misses while closing to within 19-13 on a 3-pointer by White.

Cryer answered a three-point play by Reynolds with a 3-pointer that ended a stretch of seven straight misses from deep and upped the lead to 24-16.

TCU kept scrapping, following its 2-for-10 start by making 8 of 13 shots down the stretch of the first half. White hit a turnaround jumper in the lane that pulled the Horned Frogs to within five with 1:04 left, before Reynolds beat the buzzer with a layup that left the Horned Frogs down 29-22 at the half.

Reynolds kept TCU afloat almost by himself by tallying 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting, while his teammates totaled 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Yet, despite forcing 11 turnovers in the first half, Houston failed to seize control after missing 17 of its final 23 shots.

--Field Level Media