National Basketball Association
Houston 84, Georgia St. 55
When: 7:20 PM ET, Friday, March 22, 2019
Where: BOK Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Officials:
# Mike Schypers, # Ted Valentine, # Ray Natili
Attendance:
N/A
By Field Level Media
Guard Corey Davis Jr. scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the first half, and No. 3 Houston suffocated Georgia State's normally lethal perimeter shooting en route to an 84-55 victory in the first round of the Midwest Region on Friday night in Tulsa, Okla.
Houston (32-3) will face No. 11 Ohio State in the second round on Sunday, after the Buckeyes hung on to upset No. 6 Iowa State late Friday evening.
Houston led 40-31 at the half, and Davis then scored eight consecutive Cougars points in the first 2:50 of the second half to extend the edge to 50-33.
Davis did virtually all of his damage from long range. Seventeen of his first 20 shots were 3-pointers, and he made seven of those. Houston used a 21-3 run to lead by as many as 29 points, 73-44, with 6:01 left.
The Cougars put three other players in double figures: Fabian White Jr. with 14, Breaon Brady with 13 and Dejon Jarreau with 10. White grabbed 11 rebounds.
No. 14 Georgia State had made an average of 9.5 3-pointers per game this season, but the Panthers went just 6 of 23 (26.1 percent) from long distance against Houston.
Houston entered the game as the nation's leader in field-goal percentage defense, and the Cougars held Georgia State (24-10) to 18-of-60 shooting (30 percent).
The Cougars made six of their first eight shots to vault to a 15-3 lead 4 1/2 minutes into the game. Davis converted a four-point play by making his first 3-pointer of the game from the left wing despite heavy contact and then adding the free throw, and Brady hit back-to-back shots in the paint.
Davis' second 3-pointer of the game extended the lead to 18-5. The Panthers missed eight of their first nine shots in the first 6:44. Davis finished the first half with a team-high 15 points, hitting 4 of 9 from 3-point range.
The Cougars, one of the country's best rebounding teams, outrebounded Georgia State 24-13 in the first half and 51-27 overall.
D'Marcus Simonds kept Georgia State within striking distance with 11 first-half points. Simonds finished with a team-high 18.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Georgia St. |
|
Houston |
D'Marcus Simonds 18 |
Scoring |
Corey Davis Jr. 26 |
D'Marcus Simonds 2 |
Assists |
Dejon Jarreau 7 |
Damon Wilson 7 |
Rebounds |
Fabian White Jr. 11 |
Devin Mitchell 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Fabian White Jr. 4 |
Malik Benlevi 2 |
Steals |
Armoni Brooks 2 |
D'Marcus Simonds 1 |
Blocks |
Breaon Brady 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Georgia St.
|
55 |
30.0 |
6-23 |
13-17 |
5 |
24 |
1 |
6 |
7 |
Houston
|
84 |
51.6 |
8-29 |
10-13 |
22 |
46 |
5 |
3 |
11 |