Vital leads UConn to 77-71 win over Houston on senior night

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Christian Vital scored 26 points in his final home game and UConn beat No. 21 Houston 77-71 on Thursday night.

Freshman James Bouknight added 17 points and Isaiah Whaley had 13 for the Huskies (18-12, 9-8 American Athletic Conference), who won their fourth straight game, but just their second this season over a ranked opponent.

Quentin Grimes scored 24 points and Caleb Mills added 20 for Houston (22-8, 12-5), which fell into a tie for second place in the conference.

UConn took control with a 15-2 run in the second half while Houston’s Nate Hinton and DeJon Jarreau dealt with foul trouble.

The Cougars led by seven at the half.

But Hinton picked up his third foul early in the second half and Bouknight converted a four-point play that energized UConn.

A 3-pointer from Vital tied the game at 41 and an off-balance shot by Jalen Gaffney gave UConn its first lead of the half at 47-45.

Jarreau was called for a charge and fouled out with just under six minutes left.

That led to a jumper by Vital at the other end that put UConn up 60-53, part of the decisive run.

Grimes hit a pair of long 3-pointers late that cut the UConn lead to 75-71 with 25 seconds left. But Vital won the game from the foul line.

Houston had 71 shots to just 48 for UConn, but the Huskies made 24 of theirs and were 25 of 33 from the foul line. Houston shot 36.6% (26 of 71) and made all 10 of its free throws.

The Cougars scored the game’s first five points, but then missed 10 consecutive shots, allowing UConn to go on a 16-0 run over the next seven minutes.

Houston fought back and took the lead at 32-30 on a contested jumper from the left wing by Caleb Mills.

Mills and Grimes scored every point in a 10-0 run over the final two minutes of the first half, which was capped by Grimes’ 3-pointer from the right baseline at the buzzer.

BIG PICTURE

Houston: The Cougars’ previous four conference losses came by a total of six points. They had lost two of their previous four conference games, each by a point to SMU and Memphis, while beating conference leaders Tulsa and Cincinnati.

UConn: The Huskies have won their last six home games and finished the season 14-3 at home. They are 2-4 against ranked opponents, with their other win coming against then-No. 15 Florida in November.

UP NEXT

Houston: Host Memphis on Sunday in its regular-season finale.

UConn: The Huskies end the regular season in New Orleans on Sunday against Tulane.