Ja’Vier Francis established career highs of 17 points and 15 rebounds, and No. 5 Houston bounced back from its first loss of the season to steamroll visiting North Carolina A&T 74-46 in nonconference play on Tuesday night.
Marcus Sasser also scored 17 points for Houston (10-1), which played for the first time since losing the No. 1 ranking with Saturday’s 71-65 home loss against then-No. 8 Alabama.
Emanuel Sharp added 10 points for the Cougars, who held a team under 50 points for the seventh time this season.
Kam Woods scored a season-best 26 points for the Aggies (4-5), who had a three-game winning streak halted. Demetric Horton added 11 points for North Carolina A&T.
Houston shot 50 percent from the field, including 5 of 18 from 3-point range. The Cougars outrebounded the Aggies 46-26.
North Carolina A&T made just 28.8 percent of its shots and was 6 of 25 from behind the arc while playing for the first time since Nov. 30. Tyrese Elliott had five steals and Horton and Woods added three apiece.
Francis had 10 points and nine rebounds as Houston led 36-21 at the break.
Woods scored 17 on 7-of-11 shooting in the half but the rest of his teammates missed 12 of their 13 attempts.
Houston held a 29-18 lead after Ramon Walker Jr. scored on a layup with 4:29 left in the first half.
Horton answered with a 3-pointer for the Aggies 25 seconds later before the squad went more than eight minutes without a point and 10 without a field goal.
The Cougars took advantage with 19 straight points — the final seven of the first half and the initial 12 of the second. Francis split two free throws to make it 48-21 with 16:24 left in the game.
Woods split two free throws with 15:46 left to end the North Carolina A&T drought. Marcus Watson drained a 3-pointer with 13:48 to play to halt the span without a field goal at 10:16.
Houston answered with seven straight points, the last five by Sasser, to expand the lead to 30 for the first time at 55-25 with 11:41 left.
The lead topped out at 34 points as the Cougars continued to roll.
–Field Level Media