Kingston Flemings had 20 points and Chris Cenac Jr. finished with 13 rebounds in No. 2 Houston’s 65-48 victory Saturday over Towson at Houston.
Flemings made of 8 of 10 from the field for Houston, which struggled offensively, making only 26 of 62 (41.9 percent) attempts collectively. Joseph Tugler added 15 points and eight rebounds, and Milos Uzan finished with 11 points and six assists.
Towson (1-1) was led by Jack Doumbia Jr.’s 16 points and seven rebounds. Tyler Tejada had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Dylan Williamson finished with 13 points.
Houston (2-0) held off Towson after allowing a 14-point lead in the slip down to three.
The Cougars scored 17 unanswered points to take a 19-5 with 10:42 left in the first half. Houston made five 3-pointers in that run, two by Emanuel Sharp.
Sharp did not make another shot from beyond the arc and Houston converted only three more the remainder of the game.
The Cougars finished 8 of 32 from 3-point range.
A 10-2 run by Towson cut the lead to 30-26 with 1:07 left in the first half.
Houston made only 1 of 6 attempts from the field in the last 5:32 of the half. That allowed Towson to stay close, trailing 33-26 at halftime.
After Tejada made a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 38-35 with 15:11 remaining, Houston went on a 9-0 run. Uzan had five of the points, including a 3-pointer with 13:16 left that increased the lead to 47-35.
Towson answered with a 9-2 run to close to 49-44 with 9:59 remaining.
Flemings led a spurt of 14 unanswered points scoring six of them to give Houston a 65-46 with 53 seconds left.
Towson went 0 of 8 from the field from when 8:56 remained until Doumbia made a dunk with 40 seconds left.
The Tigers shot 38.8 percent from the field, 16.7 percent (3 of 18) from 3-point range.
They committed 18 turnovers that led to 22 points for Houston.
