Houston knocks out Cleveland State

BLOOMINGTON, IND. >> Quentin Grimes scored 18 points and Houston coach Kelvin Sampson tied John Wooden on the career victories list as the Cougars beat 15th-seeded Cleveland State 87-56 in the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.

Sampson earned his 664th win, No. 38 all-time, in his first game at Assembly Hall since resigning as Indiana’s coach in February 2008.

No. 2-seed Houston has won eight straight and will face seventh-seeded Clemson or 10thseeded Rutgers in the Midwest Region’s second round on Sunday.

It’s unclear if starting guard DeJon Jarreau will be available after he missed all but 41 seconds with what appeared to be a right hip injury.

Tramon Mark added 15 points in place of Jarreau and Marcus Sasser finished with 14 for Houston (25-3).

D’Moi Hodge scored 11 points and Torrey Patton had eight points and eight rebounds for the Vikings (19-9). Cleveland State had won at least one game in each of its two previous tourney appearances, beating Indiana (1986) and Wake Forest (2009).

Hanging with Houston, No. 6 in the AP poll, was simply too much to ask — even on a neutral court that had at least a measure of tournament atmosphere. Fans gathered early in the concourse, took photos of statues, lined up for concessions and some brought signs.

The vocal crowd provided energy throughout the game, too, even as Houston struggled to pull away early.

Grimes’ basket to end the first half gave the Cougars a 37-29 lead and they opened the second half on a 12-2 run, holding the Vikings to just one basket over the first five minutes.

Cleveland State was 5 of 19 from the field in the second half.

Houston is in its third straight tourney — its longest streak since 1982-84, when the team dubbed Phi Slama Jama lost in back-toback title games.

BIG PICTURE Cleveland State: The Vikings were overmatched. They played hard and fought valiantly for a half — but they were outrebounded 38-24, committed too many fouls and lacked the depth to stay with the Cougars. Walk-on Ben Sternberg brought some joy to the Vikings bench by making two late free throws.

Houston: The loss of Jarreau and Mack’s early foul trouble created some difficulties for the Cougars. But they still look like a team capable of making a deep run — if they’re healthy. INJURY WATCH Jarreau, a fifth-year senior, appeared to get hurt on a screen and spent most of the game grimacing in pain while wearing an ice pack on his hip. Jarreau earned second-team allconference honors and was named the American Athletic Conference defensive player of the year. TEXAS HOLD ‘EM Three Texas teams held serve at Assembly Hall during the first two days of the tourney. Texas Southern drew an ace in a First Four victory Thursday.

Texas Tech made it a pair by beating Utah State in the early game Friday and the Cougars made it three of a kind with Friday night’s victory. No Texas teams are scheduled to play in Bloomington on Saturday and tourney games after the first round will be played in Indianapolis.