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Volume 71, Issue 111,
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Sports A season to remember story and captions by CHRIS ELLIOTT
Houston finished the season with a 21-10 record. Ten of those games were decided by five points or fewer, while one loss was to a team that made the NCAA Tournament. Two of those 21 wins were over teams ranked inside the Associated Press Top 25, another eight occurred during an eight-game win streak and one was actually a postseason victory in the National Invitational Tournament. And in case anyone forgot, Houston was actually ranked for a week. What does all this mean? Cougar basketball is back. Thanks to head coach Tom Penders and a determined, defensive-minded coaching staff, the Cougars never found themselves totally out of a game this season. And "The Show" provided a variety of entertaining acts, including Chris Lawson’s ankle breaking crossovers, the high flying finishes of Ramon Dyer, the earth-shattering dunks of Jamar Thorpe, Brian Latham’s intimidating defense, Oliver Lafayette’s shots from way downtown and Lanny Smith’s inhumanly quick first step.
The team’s highlights this year included wins over ranked opponents Arizona and LSU. They also snapped a four-game losing skid against Rice and beat Brigham Young in Round 1 of the NIT. 
Senior forward Ramon Dyer solidified himself as Houston’s most consistent offensive threat and top rebound man by the season’s end. The high-flying, sharp-shooting wingman always found ways to get the crowd in a frenzy.
Though his shooting was streaky, when junior guard Oliver Lafayette was on offensively he could light up the best defenses for 30 points. His 3.4 steals per contest proved he was a multi-talented asset.
Given the reigns at point guard midseason, senior Brian Latham was expected to control the pace offensively and defensively. His aggressiveness kept UH in every game this season.
Lanny Smith’s late game heroics nearly gave UH the edge needed to advance to the NIT semifinals. His leadership helped carry Houston the program’s quest to return to past prominence.
Jamar "Dunk Master Flex" Thorpe proved to be a reliable role player on a UH squad that lacked size. The junior forward was known for rocking the house with his thunderous jams. Send comments to dcsports@mail.uh.edu |
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