Field Level Media
Dec 22, 2020
Quentin Grimes scored 22 points for No. 6 Houston as the Cougars remained undefeated with a 76-50 win over visiting Temple in both teams' American Athletic Conference opener on Tuesday night.
Justin Gorham scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for the Cougars (6-0). Reggie Chaney added 13 points and Tramon Mark had 12 points and four assists in the rout.
Temple (1-1) was led by J.P. Moorman II, who scored 10 of his team-high 12 points in the first half. Brendan Barry scored nine points and Jeremiah Williams and Jake Forrester added eight points apiece for the Owls.
Houston overwhelmed Temple inside, as the Cougars outrebounded the Owls 43-26. Houston held Temple to just 13 field goals and 28.9 percent shooting from the floor while the hosts made 48.3 percent of their field-goal attempts. The Cougars made 10 3-pointers, including four by Grimes and three from Gorham, who was perfect from long range.
Leading 32-22 at halftime, Houston put the game away early in the second half. The Cougars opened the period on a 23-8 run to take a 55-30 lead on Chaney's layup with 12:20 left.
Houston never trailed. The Cougars jumped out to a 19-8 lead on Marcus Sasser's 3-pointer with 10:47 left in the first half, but the Owls were competitive the rest of the half and entered the locker room with a 10-point deficit.
While Houston was far from efficient on offense in the first half, when it made just 10 of 27 attempts from the field (37 percent), including 6 of 16 (37.5 percent) from beyond the arc, it was still terrific on defense.
Houston held Temple 28 percent shooting (7 of 25) in the first half as the Owls made just one field goal in the final 4:33 of the first half.
--Field Level Media