No. 8 Houston hands No. 16 BYU 4th straight loss

PROVO — AJ Dybantsa showed NBA scouts why he is every bit of an NBA draft lottery pick Saturday night against No. 8 Houston.

The visiting Cougars have one of those, too.

Kingston Flemings totaled 19 points, five rebounds and five assists as No. 8 Houston handed No. 16 BYU its fourth straight loss, 77-66, in front of a sellout crowd at the Marriott Center.

Emanuel Sharpe added 12 points, four rebounds and four assists for the visiting Cougars (21-2, 8-1 Big 12), who improved to 9-3 all-time against BYU, including 4-1 in Provo.

Dybantsa finished with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists; and Robert Wright III scored 17 for BYU (17-6, 5-5 Big 12).

But Chris Cenac Jr. had 16 points with five rebounds, and Houston converted 50% from the field in the second half while BYU shot 11-of-19 from the free-throw line after the break and 16-of-28 overall.

Cenac had 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and Flemings added 8 points and three assists as Houston led for more than 18 minutes en route to a 37-31 halftime lead.

Dybantsa had 13 first-half points to lead BYU, including a fastbreak 3-pointer to pull the host Cougars within 33-29 with 1:12 remaining.

But Houston held BYU without a field goal for the rest of the half after leading by as much as 10 before the break.

Wright doubled his 8 first-half points less than eight minutes into the second half, all eight during an 11-2 run before Dybantsa gave BYU a 52-50 edge with 12:49 left to play.

But Flemings responded to the game of horse, scoring 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the second half to go with three rebounds, two assists and just one turnover in 19 minutes after halftime.

The four-star freshman only took one 3-point attempt, pulling up off the dribble and getting to the rim as Houston outscored BYU 30-24 in the paint.

This story will be updated.

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