Local Teams

Marcus Sasser scored a game-high 26 points to lead No. 8 Houston to a convincing 86-59 home win over Tulsa in an American Athletic Conference game on Wednesday.

Quentin Grimes added 18 points for the Cougars (12-1, 7-1 AAC), who won their fifth straight game.

Sasser went 6-for-12 from 3-point range and Grimes was 4 of 8 from behind the 3-point line for Houston, which outrebounded Tulsa, 52-24.

Houston shot 42.6 percent from the field overall (29 of 68), but shot 40.6 percent from 3-point range (13 of 32).

Tramon Mark came off the bench to score 11 points and Justin Gorham finished with 11 rebounds for Houston, which had 11 different players score in the game.

Brandon Rachal scored 18 points and Keshawn Williams added 10 points in defeat for Tulsa (8-5, 5-3), which lost for the second time in three games.

Tulsa shot 37.3 percent from the field overall (19 of 51), 31.8 percent from 3-point range (7 of 22) and committed 18 turnovers.

Houston separated itself early, going on a 21-3 run to take a 29-9 lead with 9:03 remaining in the first half.

The Cougars then held a 38-19 lead before finishing on a 7-0 spurt over the final 4:03 of the first half to take a 45-19 lead at halftime.

Tulsa had a minor flurry to start the second half, going on an 11-2 run to cut the Houston lead to 47-30 with 17:24 left in the game.

But Houston quickly quelled any hopes of a bigger Tulsa run, responding with a 12-3 run to take a 59-33 lead with 14:22 remaining.

Houston then went on a 7-0 run to take a 30-point lead at 68-38 with 10:44 left, which was its biggest lead of the game.

Tulsa couldn't pull any closer than 25 points for the rest of the game.

--Field Level Media