.png&width=48&height=48&type=webp)
University of Houston Athletics
Men's Basketball Falls To San Diego State, 78-66
1/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 29, 2002
SAN DIEGO - Tony Bland scored 33 points to lead San Diego State to a 78-66 victory over the University of Houston in the Cougars final non-conference game.
Bland opened the game scoring eight of his points in the first 3 and ? minutes as the Aztecs opened the game with a 17-2 lead.
San Diego State extended their lead to 28-10 with 8 minutes left to play in the first half before Houston rallied.
The Cougars went to a 2-3 zone and fought their way back into the game and trailed by just six, 34-28, at halftime.
"We overcame our slow start at the beginning of the game," Houston head coach Ray McCallum said. "But, we couldn't overcome the slow start in the second half."
Bland and Randy Holcomb made sure of that as they combined to score 35 points in the second half.
After not scoring in the first half, Holcombe opened the second period with five points in the first three minutes and Bland added nine more points as San Diego State extended its lead to 48-33 with 14:56 left to play.
This time, Houston couldn't get any closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
The Cougars closed to within 72-62 on a lay up by Kevin Gaines with 2:16 left to play. But, after the Aztecs ran the shot clock down to four seconds, George Williams fouled Bland, who hit both of his free throws to make the score, 74-62.
Louis Truscott followed a missed lay-up by Gaines with a slam dunk to make the score 74-64 with 1:33 remaining.
San Diego State worked the shot clock down once again to four seconds before Bland drove around Jeremee McGuire into the middle of the lane. McGuire fouled him from behind and Bland hit two more free throws to extend San Diego State's lead to 76-64 with 1:00 to play.
After McGuire scored Houston's final basket of the game on a lay-up with 49 seconds left, Gaines was called for his fifth foul as he tried to steal the ball from Bland.
Bland made both free throws to make the final score 78-66.
Louis Truscott led the Cougars with 19 points and 10 rebounds and Jeremee McGuire added 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Gaines finished with 10 points and four assists.
The loss drops Houston's record to 11-9 and the Cougars return home to play Charlotte on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
The Aztecs improved to 12-8 overall this season, and San Diego State is 9-2 in Cox Arena this season.
