HOUSTON – Jamal Shead had 26 points, including 20 in the second half, and No. 2 Houston took sole possession of first place in the Big 12 with a 73-65 win over No. 6 Iowa State on Monday night.
Emanuel Sharp added 20 points and four steals for the Cougars (23-3, 10-3), who won their 20th consecutive home game — the longest active streak in the country. They hold a one-game lead over the Cyclones (20-6, 9-4) with five games remaining in the regular season for both teams.
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“I’m impressed with our kids’ tenacity and toughness,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We never let them get it below (five or six points). We’d always make a play.”
Shead shot 5 of 7 from the field and 8 for 9 at the free-throw line in the second half. He finished 6 of 10 from the floor with six assists and three of Houston's 13 steals.
“Jamal Shead paid his dues, and those are the guys that when it comes time to step up, you can depend on,” Sampson said. “He was the guy that was not going to let us lose tonight.”
Houston, which never trailed, turned 16 Iowa State turnovers into 20 points. Meanwhile, the Cougars committed only nine turnovers.
“If you have single-digit turnovers against Iowa State, you have a chance,” Sampson said. “I thought the key tonight was single-digit turnovers. We had nine turnovers, and we turned them over 16 times and scored 20 points off their turnovers. That was the story of the game for us.”
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger called Shead “amazing."
“A guy with his competitive spirit, his fight and his drive,” Otzelberger said. “You know when he’s going to the foul line, he’s going to cash in and make sure that his team is successful, and he certainly did that tonight.”
Keshon Gilbert had 17 points for the Cyclones, who outrebounded Houston 39-30. Tre King and Curtis Jones scored 13 apiece.
Both teams shot 42% from the field.
“We just weren’t able to make enough plays to cut into that lead to get position where we needed to be to be successful tonight,” Otzelberger said.
The Cyclones got as close as three early in the second half, but Houston built its lead back to 43-32 on a 3-pointer by Sharp with 15 minutes left.
Iowa State continued to chip away, getting the deficit down to four several times in the second half, with the last coming on a 3 by King with 8:22 to go. But the Cougars scored the next four points and went back ahead by eight on a layup by J’Wan Roberts with 7:18 left.
“They just hit timely shot after timely shot,” Otzelberger said. “Anytime we had any type of surge or push, they would hit a big shot and answer.”
BIG PICTURE
Iowa State: Fell to 6-5 in Quad 1 games. The Cyclones are 15-0 at home but 4-4 on the road.
Houston: The Cougars improved to 9-3 in Quad 1 games. They have at least three more remaining in the regular season.
UP NEXT
Iowa State: Will host West Virginia on Saturday.
Houston: Travels to Baylor on Saturday.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball