HOUSTON (AP) - Lanny Smith registered 16 points and nine assists, and Brian Latham added 15 points to lead the University of Houston to its fifth win in the last six games as the Cougars defeated TCU, 69-57, Saturday night in Hofheinz Pavilion. The win avenged a 58-51 loss against the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth on January 19.
In the first game at TCU, Houston's Andre Owens was held scoreless for the first time in his basketball career. Owens got on the board early Saturday night when he made a three-point shot from the top of the key to help Houston race to an 8-0 lead in the first two and one-half minutes of the game.
Owens scored nine points overall in the first half, while Latham added eight points and Smith netted seven to help the Cougars race to a 39-25 halftime lead.
TCU scored the first four points in the second half to close within 10 points in the first two minutes of the second half as Corey Santee made a lay-up and Marcus Sloan scored on a slam dunk.
But, Owens nailed a three-point shot from the top of the key to halt the Horned Frogs' rally. His lay-up with 11:57 left to play gave Houston a 47-32 lead.
TCU closed to within six with 1:39 left to play when Marcus Shropshire made back-to- back three-point shots from the top of the key to make the score 59-53. But, Smith scored three-points on a jumper shot in the lane and a free throw to make the score 62-53.
Houston's Cedrick Hensley sealed the victory with a slam-dunk with four second left to play to make the final score, 69-57.
In addition to Smith and Latham combining for 31 points, Owens finished with 14 points and Ramon Dyer added 10. Hensley and Chris Lawson finished with seven points each off Houston's bench. Sergio de Randamie added eight rebounds and blocked five shots.
The victory improved Houston's overall record to 17-10 and the Cougars are 8-5 in Conference USA play this season. Picked by many preseason publications to finish in 13th place, the Cougars have an 8-5 Conference USA record and are in sixth place in the league standings.
This marks the first time the Cougars have had a 17-10 record since 1995-96 when UH ended the season with a 17-10 mark. The win also matches Houston's win total from the last two seasons combined.
The Cougars play next two games at East Carolina on February 26 and at Marquette on March 2 before closing out the regular season playing host to UAB on March 5.
TCU saw its three-game winning streak come to an end as the Horned Frogs fell to 16-10 overall and own a 6-6 C-USA record.
Corey Santee scored 14 points for TCU, and Judson Stubbs had 13 off the bench.