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 an announced crowd of 18, 177 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).

"He's going to be doing that with Kenny and Charles and Shaq commenting on him pretty soon," Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said of Dybantsa. "There's no shame giving up 28 to that kid."

It was the rest of the cast that pushed the visiting Cougars past the home Cougs.

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.

Beyond the 45 points from Dybantsa and Wright, Houston limited BYU to 6-of-30 shooting including 2-of-12 from 3-point range. Richie Saunders had 7 points, seven rebounds and tied Dybantsa with a team-high four assists, and Kennard Davis Jr. and Abdullah Ahmed each scored 5.

But Ahmed and starting center Keba Keita combined for just 9 points on 3-of-10 shooting to go with eight rebounds, causing consternation for head coach Kevin Young even while he disappointedly praised his team's fight three days after a stunning 99-92 loss to Oklahoma State.

"Go make a shot," he said bluntly of the two centers. "I do't know what else to say.

"The two of them were 3-of-10 combined, and then 3-of-8 from the free-throw line," Young added. "Those are basically seven missed layups and five missed free throws between your two centers. Not good enough."

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. The visitors only finished with a 40-36 rebounding advantage, but turned 13 offensive boards into 17 second-chance points.

"We've just got to block out; we've just got to do it," Dybantsa said. "There's no excuse for it. It's just more of an effort thing."

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.

The rookie did exactly what he was supposed to do, as Houston coach Kelvin Sampson mentioned when he told the youngster to stop "shooting threes, and focus on getting downhill."

"You either take the shots they want you to take, or you take the shots that we want you to take," Sampson said. "If you want to win, get the ball to the paint."

BYU will try to snap its four-game skid Tuesday at Baylor (6 p.m. MST, ESPN2).

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