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Sports

Scrappy Cougars fall short to Golden Eagles

UH suffers loss after getting within two points of Southern Miss 
with 58.3 seconds left

by CHRIS ELLIOTT
The Daily Cougar

Houston played its best basketball in the second half for the second game in a row, but unlike its Saturday matchup against Alabama-Birmingham, UH could not pull off the comeback on the road at Southern Miss on Monday.

Senior forward Jahmar "Dunk Master Flex" Thorpe knocked down a shot from behind the arc to cut his team's deficit to 68-66 with 58.3 seconds remaining in the contest. 

The Cougars had four more offensive possessions to make something happen and four more defensive opportunities to get stops and force turnovers, but all they got were three made free throws by senior guard Oliver Lafayette and some ill-timed fouls.

"I'm very proud of our kids tonight," UH head coach Tom Penders said. "They came back. They didn't show any signs that they were giving up. We drew about everything out of it that we could, both offensively and defensively. We almost had enough to climb the mountain. We just didn't have enough."

After entering the second half trailing 30-22 and shooting 9-for-29 from the floor, the Cougars (14-12, 8-4 Conference USA), led by Lafayette, mounted two consecutive scoring drives to pull to within one point of the Golden Eagles (17-8, 7-5 C-USA) with 11:00 to go in the game. 

That 50-49 deficit grew despite the efforts of Lafayette, who scored a season-high 30 points on 9-for-18 shooting from the field and added six rebounds, five assists and five steals. 

"We were stagnant in the first half. We weren't executing the way I would have liked us to," Penders said. "We (missed) a lot of open shots both inside and outside that put us in a hole. 

In the second half, offensively we played much better, but it's so hard when you put yourselves in a hole.

"We did have an opportunity. This team never quits. They just fight and they scrap."

Before Monday's game, Lafayette had been struggling to find his shot, though he had held his own on the defensive end and on the boards. 

Penders said before the game he was looking for Lafayette to have a breakout scoring night and light up the scoreboard. 

His prediction came true, but it came true in the context of a hard-fought loss.

"I'd give it all back if we could have gotten that win," Lafayette said. "Me and coach (Michael) Young have been working on (my shot) every day. It's been giving me more and more confidence in the games, so I knew it was due for me to have a big game. The big game don't mean nothing if we don't win."

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