No. 3 Houston rides defense to sidestep Kansas State

Emanuel Sharp scored 23 points and the No. 3 Houston's defense did the rest to the help the host Cougars produce a 78-64 win over reeling Kansas State on Saturday afternoon in a Big 12 Conference clash.

The Cougars (23-2, 11-1 Big 12) relied on their defense to limit Kansas State to just five field goals in the first half and scored the final 13 points on the way to a 33-19 lead at halftime. Houston was up by 14 points despite missing 23 of their 33 shots over the first 20 minutes.

Houston increased the margin to as many as 24 points in the second half when Chris Cenac Jr. hit a 3-pointer with 16:41 to play. But the Wildcats refused to go away, pulling to within 59-49 on Nate Johnson's basket from beyond the arc with 7:06 left.

That's a close as Kansas State would get as the Cougars extended their overall winning streak to six games and have captured 18 straight and 51 of their last 52 contests at home.

Milos Uzan and Kingston Flemings added 12 points each for Houston, whose next three games are against teams ranked in the top 10 beginning with No. 5 Iowa State on the road on Monday. The Cougars shot 53.8% in the second half.

P.J. Haggerty led the Wildcats with 23 points while Johnson had 12 and Taj Manning scored 10. Kansas State (10-15, 1-11 Big 12) dropped its sixth game in a row.

The Cougars survived a ragged offensive beginning, missing 11 straight shots from the floor after scoring the game's opening basket and falling behind 9-3. Houston snapped that swoon when Sharp canned a 3-pointer with 12:47 left but still trailed 15-6 after Haggerty poured in a 3-pointer with 11:35 to play in the half.

Houston finally found its collective stride, running off 13 of the ensuing 14 points to take the lead at 19-16 on Kalifa Sakho's dunk with 6:48 left until halftime. Uzan's third chance, 3-pointer 4:06 before halftime stoked the Cougars' lead to six points, and Houston extended its run through the rest of the half, getting two free throws by Flemings with 5.1 seconds left to carry a 33-19 lead to the break.

Sharp led all scorers with 14 points before halftime while Houston shot just 30.3% from the floor for the half. Haggerty's eight points paced the Wildcats, who made only 20.8 percent of their field goals - missing their final 10 shots of the half - and going scoreless over the final 5:24 before the break.