By JOEL ANDERSON
AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON (AP) -- Brian Latham scored 22 points and Ramon Dyer added a career-high 19, leading Houston to a 66-53 victory over Memphis on Saturday.
Dyer scored 16 points in the second half, helping the Cougars (14-9, 5-4 Conference USA) get their 1,000th win in school history. Houston improved to 1,000-672 in 60 years of basketball.
The Cougars are now 10-1 at home this season, with its only loss coming against Tulane on Jan. 26.
Anthony Rice and Darius Washington each scored 12 points to lead Memphis (13-10, 6-3), which had its three-game winning streak ended.
Memphis, which ranks 13th out of 14 C-USA teams in assist-to-turnover ratio, held a 30-25 halftime lead but was ultimately doomed by tying a season high with 26 turnovers.
The Cougars ran off 14 straight points to take a 39-32 lead early in the second half, holding Memphis scoreless for almost seven minutes. During that stretch, the Tigers committed seven turnovers and missed seven shots.
Rice hit a 3 to end the Tigers' drought with 11:25 to go, and Memphis quickly tied the score up at 39.
But Houston went on another late run, with Dyer hitting a 3 and Latham stealing the ball from Washington and scoring on a layup to give the Cougars a 52-44 lead.
Memphis would never get any closer down the stretch.
The Cougars won despite getting just eight points from leading scorer Andre Owens, who averages 18.1 points a game.
