Houston defeats Washington 75-71 to win 2019 Diamond Head Classic

POSTED: December 26, 2019 -- 8:44 a.m. CT

HONOLULU, HI (Stan Sheriff Center) -- The Houston Cougars defeated the Washington Huskies 75-71 Wednesday night to win the 2019 Diamond Head Classic.

Caleb Mills, redshirt-freshman guard, and Fabian White Jr, junior forward, each scored 19 points to lead Houston. Quentin Grimes, sophomore guard, was next with 14 points -- including 8 for 8 from the foul line in the last 4:13 of the game.

Washington freshman Isaiah Stewart led the Huskies with 25 points and 8 rebounds.

Washington shot exceptionally well from three-point range the first 14 minutes of the game. The Huskies shot 6 for 8 from three to lead Houston by as much as 14 (35-21) with 6 minutes remaining in the first half. However, the Huskies last made basket occurred with more than 8 minutes remaining.

Houston outscored Washington 10-1 in the final six minutes to trail 36-31 at halftime.

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Fabian White Jr shot 3 for 9 in the opening half; but, most of his shot attempts were open looks against Washington's zone defense. White turned things around in the second half as he made his first three shots in the second half to keep Houston close and cut a 10 point Huskies lead to 43-37 with 16:45 left in the game.

Neither team scored for 2 plus minutes; then, Houston senior big man Chris Harris Jr scored a layup and a dunk to bring Houston within 43-41. Washington's Quade Green knocked down a three-pointer and teammate Isaiah Stewart scored in the paint; however, Houston answered with three consecutive three-point baskets -- first from Marcus Sasser; then, Grimes; followed by Mills -- to put Houston ahead 50-49 with 11:32 remaining.

Washington's Hameir Wright scored in the paint a minute later to begin a back-and-forth seesaw scoring effort which lasted more than six minutes and featured three ties and 9 lead changes.

Houston trailed 60-59 when Justin Gorham, redshirt-junior forward, grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a layup which began a 7-0 Houston run. Houston led 63-60 when, with the shot clock winding down, Gorham knocked a three-point shot from the top of the key for a 66-60 lead with 3:33 left in the ball game.

Washington did not go away as the Huskies got the ball to Stewart in the paint and Steward delivered with a left-handed jump hook and a free throw to complete a three-point play to cut Houston's lead to 67-65 with 2 minutes remaining.

Next, after calling a timeout with 8 seconds left on the shot clock, Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson set up a play for Caleb Mills. Mills caught the inbound pass; dribbled; then, attacked the basket and scored a tough driving layup high off the backboard for a 69-65 Houston lead with 90 seconds remaining.

Washington did not score for nearly a minute before Stewart scored a layup with 30 seconds left in the ball game. Washington was forced to foul and sent Quentin Grimes to the free throw line three separate times. Grimes made all six of his foul shots to seal Houston's win.

Houston's next game is Friday, January 3, at 6 p.m., versus UCF, inside Fertitta Center. ESPN2 will broadcast the game.

Houston won the game despite shooting 37.3% (25 for 67) from the floor compared to Washington's 46.2% shooting (24 for 52). Houston won the rebounding battle 37-31 including 19-12 in the second half. Houston outscored Washington 17-7 in second chance points.

NOTES:

With the win, Houston improves to 3-0 on Christmas; but, more importantly, Houston earns a much needed Quad 1 victory this season. Since the NCAA moved to its NET metric (NCAA Evaluation Tool) last season to replace the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) as the primary sorting tool for evaluating teams during the Division I men's basketball season, the more Quad 1 games teams win the better.

Washington (10-3) was ranked 27th in the NET before the loss to Houston. Houston is now 1-1 in Quad 1; 1-2 in Quad 2; 3-0 in Quad 3; and 5-0 in Quad 4.

Houston entered the Diamond Head Classic ranked 54th in the NET; however, a perfect 3-0 record Houston improves to 10-3 this season and 39th in the NET rankings.

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