Colossal rally flames out at finish

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East Carolina came within a whisker of completing one of the more dramatic rallies in college hoops history before its red-hot hand turned cold and Houston held on for an 82-76 Conference USA victory Saturday night in Hofheinz Pavilion.

Junior guard Jonathon Simmons and sophomore forward Alandise Harris scored 19 points apiece and freshman forward TaShawn Thomas added 17 points and 12 rebounds to help the Cougars avoid falling victim to what would have been a comeback for the ages.

Trailing 74-50 with 7:46 to play, the Pirates unleashed a ferocious full-court press and took off on a 25-2 run to cut the lead to 76-75 on a basket by sophomore forward Robert Sampson with 2:23 left.

Sampson and senior forward Darrius Morrow then missed shots that would have given their team the lead and the rally fizzled as the Pirates (9-9, 0-5 C-USA) missed all six of their field goal attempts in the final 1:36.

Harris and ECU junior point guard Miguel Paul traded free throws before the Cougars (10-9, 2-4) tentatively regained the momentum as the clock ticked down. Harris made two more free throws and Thomas added a point from the charity stripe and a dunk just before the buzzer to account for the final margin.

Paul scored 23 points and junior guards Shamarr Bowden and Erin Straughn each contributed 12 for the Pirates.

The outcome snapped Houston's four-game losing streak and extended ECU's skid to five straight.

East Carolina returns home for a Saturday night rematch (7 p.m.) with Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles (17-3, 4-1) will arrive in Greenville coming off a 67-63 victory over Marshall on Saturday. USM held off a late ECU rally to claim a 78-76 win in the teams' Jan. 4 matchup in Hattiesburg.

BOX SCORE

HOUSTON 82, EAST CAROLINA 76

Date: Thursday, Jan. 21, 2012
Place: Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, TX
Attendance: 2,954

Records: ECU 9-9 (0-5 Conference USA); UH 10-9 (2-4)

SCORE BY PERIODS     1   2  FINAL
East Carolina       31  45  -  76
Houston             42  40  -  82

EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
 # PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT  R PTS MIN
.........................    ..   ...    ..  . ... ...
01 Morrow, Darrius..... f   2-8   0-0   5-8  3   9  38
02 Kemp, Maurice....... f   4-9   1-3   0-0  3   9  17
00 Paul, Miguel........ g  7-19  4-15   5-8  1  23  33
20 Bowden, Shamarr..... g   4-8   4-7   0-0  1  12  18
23 Straughn, Erin...... g   4-8   1-3   3-6  4  12  24
11 Gaines, Corvonn.......   1-4   0-3   0-0  2   2  20
12 Sampson, Robert.......   3-7   0-1   0-0 12   6  26
22 Campbell, Paris.......   0-3   0-3   3-3  3   3  21
35 Morales, Darius.......   0-0   0-0   0-0  0   0   3
TEAM.....................                    5
TOTALS................... 25-66 10-35 16-25 34  76 200
PERCENT..................  37.9  28.6  64.0

HOUSTON COUGARS
 # PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT  R PTS MIN
.........................    ..   ...    ..  . ... ...
02 Harris, Alandise.... f   5-7   1-1  8-10  5  19  26
35 Thomas, TaShawn..... f  8-13   0-0   1-3 12  17  29
03 Thompson, J.J....... g   3-5   0-0   0-0  1   6  22
11 Thibodeaux, Darian.. g   3-6   3-6   0-0  1   9  18
23 Simmons, Jonathon... g  7-11   2-2   3-4  7  19  32
00 Young, Joseph.........   2-8   0-3   0-0 11   4  28
12 Jones, Jimmie.........   1-3   0-2   0-1  0   2  21
15 Gibson, Leon..........   2-9   0-0   0-0  9   4  19
32 Van Slyke, Kirk.......   0-0   0-0   2-2  1   2   5
TEAM.....................                    1
TOTALS................... 31-62  6-14 14-20 48  82 200
PERCENT..................  50.0  42.9  70.0

Fouled out: None
Technical Fouls: None
Officials: Rick Crawford, Patrick Evans, Steve Divine

PAGE UPDATED 01/22/12 09:58 AM.

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