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by: Kris Gardner, United States Basketball Writers Association member. Credentialed media member since 1997. USBWA approved online journalist. Voter of Katrina McClain, Naismith, USBWA, and Wooden awards.

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Houston ERUPTS for 51 points in the second half to top Temple, 84-46

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POSTED: March 3, 2022 -- 11:58 p.m. CT

Houston, TX -- (Fertitta Center

The Houston Cougars men's basketball team thumped the Temple Owls Thursday night, 84-46, to conclude the home portion of its schedule and celebrate Houston's 4 seniors (Josh Carlton, Kyler Edwards, Taze Moore, and Fabian White Jr) in a huge way.

Houston (26-4 overall, 15-2 in the American Athletic Conference) jumped to a 15-0 lead six minutes into the game. However, Temple (16-11, 9-7) responded with a 14-4 run to trim Houston's lead to 18-14 with 9:42 remaining in the first half.

Fabian White, Houston's all-time winningest player in the history of the men's basketball program, scored 7 points during an 11-3 run to push Houston's lead to 29-17 with 4:19 til halftime.

Houston led Temple 33-23 at halftime. Houston made 1 of 11 three-point shot attempts in the opening 20 minutes.


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The Owls scored the first 3 points of the second half to trail Houston 33-26 with 18:34 on the game clock. Houston outscored Temple 7-2 to lead by 12 (40-28) once again. Temple hung around the next few minutes. Houston led 49-36 before out scoring Temple 10-0 to lead by 23 points with 8:50 left in the contest.

Taze Moore scored six points during the 10-0 blitz. Moore and Kyler Edwards each had a dunk during the blitz. Temple made 2 free throws to end the scoring drought; but, Houston responded with another 10-0 burst to lead 69-38 with 6:43 remaining.

The rout was on. Freshman Robbie Armbrester had 2 of Houston's 9 dunks in the game. Walk-on Ryan Elvin hit a three-point shot to cap Houston's scoring with 19.5 seconds left in the ball game.

Fabian White finished the game with a game-high 26 points. Taze Moore filled the box score with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 blocked shot. Big man Josh Carlton added 11 points and 8 rebounds. Point guard Jamal Shead dished out a career-high 13 assists and scored 10 points.

Houston shot 62.5 fg%% (20 for 32) including 9 for 14 from 3 in the second half. The Coogs scored 1.5 points per possession in the second half. Temple scored 0.742 points per possession in the second 20 minutes.

After the game, Houston cut down the nets to celebrate winning the American Athletic Conference regular season title.

Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson commented on his team's earning the AAC regular season championship.

"One of the referees did games in old Hofheinz and toward the end of the game when the game was out of reach, he talked about how far our program's come. I thanked him.

"It's hard to put in words for people who didn't see it."

"I'm just proud of our young men," Coach Sampson continued. "A lot of people counted this program out.

"These kids found a way to win a championship."

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