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University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
Southern Miss
Cougars Defeat Southern Miss., 63-53
1/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Southern Miss scored the first five points of the game on a lay-up and free throw by Michael Ford and another lay-up by Jarekus Singleton in the first 40 seconds of the game.
That's when Houston head coach Tom Penders inserted Latham into the game. It didn't take Latham long to make his presence felt, scoring Houston's first two points on a jump shot in the lane, and igniting a 22-2 run.
"Brian was the key once more tonight," Penders said. "He came off the bench and started everything for us defensively."
After Latham hit Ramon Dyer for a three-pointer from the left baseline, Lanny Smith hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to give the Cougars an 8-5 lead, and they never trailed again.
Latham continued the run with a three-pointer from the right wing, Smith added another jump shot from the top of the key, and Andre Owens hit his first three-point shot of the night with 13:01 left in the period to extend Houston's lead to 16-5.
Owens tied a school record for most three-point shots made in a career when he hit his second trey with 5:19 left to play. It was the 182nd three-pointer he has made as a Cougar.
Smith and Latham closed out Houston's first half scoring with a three-pointer from the top of the key and lay-up, respectively to give the Cougars a 32-22 lead.
Houston extended its lead to 45-28 with 13:28 left to play when Owens broke Houston's three-point record. Then Latham made a lay-up with 13:05 left to play to give the Cougars their largest lead, 47-28.
Owens made his fourth trey during that stretch to give the Cougars a 51-36 lead with 9:20 left to play. Then, the Golden Eagles used a 9-0 run on a combined six free throws by Jasper Johnson and David Haywood, who added a trey to close the gap to 51-45 with 5:49 left to play.
Smith passed to Rodney Hannah for a 10-foot jump shot on the left baseline and Latham added a lay-up to help the Cougars hold onto a 55-49 lead.
After Ford hit a jumper in the lane to pull Southern Miss to within 55-51, Hannah tipped in his own miss to give the Cougars a 57-51 lead with 1:50 left to play.
After Jason Forte missed two lay-ups, Latham hit two free throws to extend Houston's lead to 59-51. Owens made four free throws on Houston's next two possessions to put the Cougars up 63-51. Jasper Johnson made a jumper to make the final score, 63-53.
"It may not have been pretty, but if you told me we would win by 10, I would take it," Penders said. "It's still a win and our team played hard the entire game."
In addition to Latham's 19 points, Owens finished with 18 points and Lanny Smith added 13. Ramon Dyer scored six points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds and Rodney Hannah added 4 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Houston improved its overall record to 11-6 and is 2-1 in C-USA play. The Cougars are also 8-0 in home games this season.
