Houston made easy work of ECU Wednesday night at Fertitta Center 94-50. With the victory the Cougars picked up their thirtieth straight home win.
Armoni Brooks led three Houston players in double-figures with 17 points for the 17th ranked Cougars(19-1/6-1 AAC) including hitting five of seven from the arc to go along with twelve points each from Corey Davis and Cedrick Alley who hit four of five from three-point land in his own right in the win. Fabian White added 11 points and Galen White dished out eight assists for Houston.
Seth LeDay with 12 points and Isaac Fleming with 11 points were the only Pirates in double figures. Collectively, the Pirate guard trifecta of Fleming, Shawn Williams and K.J. Davis went 0-12 from the arc.
National freshman of the week and AAC leading scorer Jayden Gardner was held to just eight points, all in the first half, before sitting for the vast majority of the final twenty minutes. ECU hit just 20 of 62 from the floor including nine percent shooting and only made 2 of 22 shot attempts from three-point range.
Houston hit 17 of their 30 first half shots including 11 of 15 from three point range and 4 for 4 from the charity stripe to take a commanding 49-26 lead over ECU(7-9/1-5 AAC) as the two teams headed into the locker room at halftime. Overall the Cougars converted on 51.8 percent from the floor and 16 of 24 from the arc.
“At one point they had more points from the three-point line than we had total. It’s very disappointing. We couldn’t get anything going and I think we lost some confidence. There’s no doubt about that,” said ECU head coach Joe Dooley afterward.
“When they’re making shots like that and you’re 2 for 22 from three, we need some guys to step up and we didn’t tonight and it’s very disappointing,” Dooley stated.
The Cougars got increasingly hot in the first half hitting nearly 55 percent of their shots and 73.3 percent from the arc while ECU made just 38.7 percent overall and only 1 of 9 from three point land in the first twenty minutes.
Armoni Brooks led Houston with 11 first half points including three treys - one of which was with ECU’s Shawn Williams all in his face. The Cougars enjoyed an 18-11 advantage on the boards. AAC and national freshman of the week Jayden Gardner led the Pirates with eight first half points.
Houston then scored the first sixteen points of the second half before a Shawn Williams jumper finally broke the drought for cold shooting ECU. The Pirates did score seven straight points at one stretch mostly on steals and transition baskets but the Cougars’ 21-11 run in the first ten minutes of the half effectively put the game out of reach at the ten minute mark.
