Tulane University
Houston
Hot-Shooting Houston Downs Men's Basketball, 82-57
Jan 25, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2006
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Oliver Lafayette led four Cougar players in double-digits as the hot shooting University of Houston defeated the Tulane University men's basketball team, 82-57, in Conference USA action Wednesday evening in Fogelman Arena.
Houston drained 60.0 percent of its shots in the first half (21-of-58) and the defense limited the Green Wave to 20 second-half points. Lafayette scored a game-best 19 points, and had five of Houston's 14 3-point baskets. With the loss, Tulane falls to 5-12 overall and 1-4 in C-USA action. Houston, meanwhile, improves to 11-6 on the year and 2-3 in league play.
"That's as good a performance as I've seen in two or three years against a team that I've coached," Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson said. "They were tough enough to take the shots and good enough to make them. They came in, got on a roll, and we couldn't stop them. They were the better team.
"I was disappointed with our defensive toughness because that has been our strong point. Offensively, we got some great looks, but we couldn't put them down."
Green Wave sophomore Matt Wheaton led Tulane with 11 points while post players David Gomez and Quincy Davis scored nine each. Gomez led all players with eight rebounds, and rookie point guard Ryan Williams had four assists.
The Green Wave got off to a solid start, scoring on five of their first seven trips down the court, but Houston was even better as the Cougars connected on 12 of their 14 shots from the field, including a 6-of-7 performance beyond the 3-point line.
At that time, Houston led 34-22 and the Cougars never let the Green Wave back into the game.
The lead continued to grow as the first half progressed and Houston had its largest lead of the stanza at the halftime break, up by 22. The Cougars scored the first seven points of the second half to claim the biggest lead of the day at 67-37 with 16:47 to play, but from there, the game became a defensive struggle as the two teams combined to hit just 12 of 42 shots (.286).
Brian Latham, Ramon Dyer and Lanny Smith joined Lafayette in double digits with 18, 14 and 11, respectively. Latham had six assists while Smith and Lafayette tied for team-high rebounding honors with five apiece.
The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, Jan. 28, when they travel to Houston, Texas to take on C-USA foe Rice at 6 p.m. at Autry Court.
