Houston Cougars defeat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 87-66

UPDATED: December 24, 2011 -- 12:14 a.m. CT

POSTED: December 23, 2011 -- 11:59 p.m. CT

HOUSTON, TX (Hofheinz Pavilion) -- The Houston Cougars picked up a much needed win Saturday night over the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders. The Cougars defeated the Islanders 87-66 in front of a Hofheinz Pavilion crowd of 3052 (distraught UH football) fans.

Jonathon Simmons led the Coogs with a game-high 22 points. Simmons filled the stat sheet: 22 points (5 for 7 fgs including 4 of 5 on threes); 8 for 10 from the foul line; six rebounds; two assists; three assists; and, unfortunately, six turnovers -- in only 24 minutes of game action.

Leon Gibson added 16 while Joseph Young and TaShawn Thomas each chipped in 12 points.

Simmons credited his success Saturday night to extra work in practice as well as after practice.

"My preparation in practice got me ready for the game," Simmons said. "I've been putting extra work in on shooting."

Oddly enough, Simmons started the game very poorly with three turnovers in the first four minutes of the game. Simmons did not score his first basket of the game until his three-point basket gave the Cougars a 31-20 lead with 6:40 left until halftime. Simmons scored 13 points during a four-minute stretch of the first half to help the Cougars lead 43-26 with 3:40 remaining.

The Cougars (4-3) led the Islanders 50-33 at halftime. Joseph Young added 12 points in the first half. Houston shot 53.3% (16 for 30) from the field while the Islanders made 13 of 31 (41.9%) of their field goal attempts in the half.

Simmons continued his aggressiveness early in the second half with four free throws and a three-point bucket to help the Cougars increase the lead to twenty-seven points (62-35).

Leon Gibson scored his UH career-high 16 points off the bench for the Cougars. Gibson scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half. Gibson was very effective in the paint with his back to the basket.

The Cougars led by as much as 32 points in the ball game. TaShawn Thomas (12) and Alandise Harris (11) combined for 23 rebounds and helped the Coogs dominate the Islanders 43-28 on the glass.

"Me and Alandise tell each other we have to keep getting in each other's head in practice," Thomas said. "And, make it a competition to see who's going to get more rebounds."

Thomas added 12 points for to earn his first double-double of his freshman season.

Coach Dickey wants his players to emphasize rebounding and do a better job rebounding in practice.

"Rebound well in practice," Coach Dickey said. "Become a habit. That's something that we work on; but, we have not carried over into a game. It's got to be a mindset. Part of it is toughness. It's got to be a priority in practice."

Hameed Ali scored a team-high 15 points for the Islanders (1-5). Terence Jones added 12.

"I'm, obviously, happy with the win," said Cougars' head coach James Dickey. "The shot selection was very good -- especially from the three-point line. We shot a high percentage. We just didn't make good decisions when we got into the mid-range level on the penetrate and pitch.

"Tonight, we were a little sloppy with the ball. We turned the ball over too much; but, I thought we did a better job defending. We did a better job rebounding. Our awareness was better for the most part. Then, when we got that comfortable lead, we didn't quite execute the way we wanted to; but, we'll work on that."

The Coogs head to San Marcos in a few days for a road game, Tuesday, December 6, versus Texas State. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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