Kyler Edwards scores 21 in Houston's 81-67 road win over Tulane

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POSTED: February 23, 2022 -- 11:12 p.m. CT

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- (Fogelman Arena)

The Houston Cougars defeated the Tulane Green Wave, 81-67, in methodical fashion Wednesday night. Houston made timely baskets and timely defensive stops to improve to 23-2 overall and 12-2 in the American Athletic Conference.

Kyler Edwards led Houston with a game-high 21 points. In his last 6 games, Edwards made 9 of 48 three-point field goal attempts and 21 of 82 field goals overall.

Wednesday night, Edwards made 7 of 14 field goal attempts including 4 of 10 three-point tries.

"We knew, eventually, he was going to get going," Coach Sampson said of Edwards' shooting.

Josh Carlton, Houston's starting center, picked up two fouls less than 2 minutes into the game. Head Coach Kelvin Sampson brought in Reggie Chaney for Carlton; then, Coach Sampson subbed in J'Wan Roberts for Chaney.

"J'Wan went in there; and, we just started dominating the boards," Coach Sampson remarked.

Roberts delivered 6 points and 7 rebounds in 11 first-half minutes.

"I just feel like I had to step up and fill in the role," Roberts said after the game.

Neither team led by more than 5 points in the first half. Houston led 32-27 at halftime.

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Edwards made a three-pointer to start the second-half scoring. Taze Moore followed with a lay-up to put Houston ahead by 10 (37-27) with 17:22 on the game clock.

Tulane pulled within 6 (39-33); but, Edwards sank two 3-point shots during an 11-4 Houston run to push the Coogs' lead to 50-37 with 13:04 remaining in the contest.

Houston led 61-54 with 4:53 left in the ball game when Taze Moore made a driving layup and a three-point basket from the left corner. Next, Moore stuffed Tulane's Kevin Cross' layup attempt at the rim with a two-handed rejection. Moore grabbed the defensive rebound; and Kyler Edwards converted a three-point play to boost Houston's lead to 15 (69-54) with 3:12 to go in the game.

Houston's lead did not get below 12 points during the closing minutes.

Moore finished the game with 18 points (7/14 fgs -- made his last 4 shots), 9 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Fabian White scored 12 points and added 5 assists to go along with 3 rebounds.

J'Wan Roberts grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and scored 8 points.

Houston won the rebounding battle 43-28 and outscored Tulane 38-28 in the paint and 17-3 in bench points.

Houston point guard Jamal Shead handed out 7 of Houston's 20 assists. Houston had 20 assists on 31 made baskets. Houston shot 50.8 fg% (31 for 61) in the game including 62.1 fg% (18 for 29) in the second half.

Houston's next game is Sunday, February 27, at home, versus the SMU Mustangs. Tip is set for 11:30 a.m. Central Time on ESPN.

NOTE: During his postgame press conference, Coach Sampson issued an apology to Tulane's coaches, fans, and players for the unnecessary slam dunk by freshman big Ja'Vier Francis with 0.8 seconds remaining and Houston leading 79-66.

Coach Sampson was so disappointed in the dunk, he ran onto the court -- and earned an automatic technical foul -- to talk with his players.

"That's not a classy move. I hated that. It's just unnecessary. It wasn't Ja'Vier's fault. It was Jamal's (fault). Jamal shouldn't have thrown it to him. So, I heard a word with Jamal after the game.

"The game's over. We don't need anymore points. I'm sure Tulane took it as we were trying to show them a little bit.

"That's unnecessary; and, I really want to apologize to the players and coaches at Tulane."

CLICK HERE for The HRR's write-ups of Coogs' men's hoops games.