Houston, TX (Sports Network) – Maurice McNeil registered a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds as the Houston Cougars slipped by the Nevada Wolf Pack, 64-61, in non-conference action at Hofheinz Pavilion.
Adam Brown, who hit a pair of critical free throws in the final minute, added a double-double of his own for the Cougars (6-3) with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the team’s second straight victory.
The Wolf Pack (1-7) was led by Malik Story with a game-high 21 points on 8- of-19 shooting from the floor, while Deonte Burton and Derrell Conner contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the squad’s seventh consecutive setback. Despite shooting just 2-of-9 from the floor, Dario Hunt contributed with a game-high 18 rebounds, while Kevin Panzer tried to offset his 2-of-8 shooting effort with 11 boards of his own.
Nevada moved out to a 15-7 lead eight minutes into the meeting, thanks to a three-pointer by Story, but the Cougars roared back with an 11-0 run to tighten up the battle before the visitors carried a 32-31 lead into the break.
Houston opened the second half with an 8-0 run and never looked back after that, no matter how close the Pack rebounded in the final minutes of the three-point decision.
Nevada held a 53-35 edge in the rebounding department, but even that was not enough to combat 17 turnovers and just 34.4 percent from the field on the night.