West Virginia's second half rally came up short in tonight's 63-49 loss to sixth-ranked Houston at the WVU Coliseum.
The Cougars, winners of 13 straight games, had a comfortable 39-19 halftime lead, but West Virginia scored the first 11 points of the second half and was trailing 49-44 with 6:59 remaining and Jonathan Powell at the free throw line to shoot a one-and-one.
The freshman missed, unfortunately, and at the other end of the floor LJ Cryer was fouled by Joseph Yesufu on his shot attempt that Toby Okani was called for goal tending. Cryer made the free throw, pushing the lead back to eight, and then it quickly grew back to 11 on Milos Uzan's second-chance 3 after J'Wan Roberts grabbed one of his four offensive rebounds.
Subsequent missed free throws by Amani Hansberry and Sencire Harris enabled Houston to get its lead back to 15.
WVU never threatened after that.
The Mountaineers return to the road to play at Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon. The Bearcats lost 69-66 at Utah on Tuesday night.
Photos in the gallery below are by Dan Shrensky. Contest above is from WVUSports.com.