HOUSTON (AP) - Leon Gibson scored 20 points and TaShawn Thomas added 11 points to go with his 20 rebounds as Houston beat Florida A&M 81-76 on Friday in the season opener for both teams.
The Cougars were clinging to a 77-76 lead with under a minute to go when Gibson grabbed an offensive rebound and dunked to put Houston up by three with 49 seconds left.
Florida A&M's Jamie Adams missed a 3-pointer, Thomas added one of his five blocks and J.J. Thompson sank two free throws after a steal to seal the win. Jherrod Stiggers added 19 points for the Cougars and Gibson also had 10 rebounds.
Florida A&M led by one at the half and scored the first five points of the second half to go up 40-34. Instead, the Cougars climbed back into it behind Gibson and Thomas.
Adams and Reggie Lewis led the Rattlers with 18 points each.
| Scoreboard | |||
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
| Florida A&M (0-1) | 35 | 41 | 76 |
| Houston (1-0) « | 34 | 47 | 81 |
2013 College World Series
Get your gear Shop Now
| Florida A&M Rattlers | |||||||
| M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS | |
| J. Bradshaw, F | 24 | 5-10 | 2-2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 14 |
| R. Lewis, G | 34 | 6-15 | 3-4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 18 |
| W. Davis, G | 33 | 0-1 | 4-6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| J. Adams, G | 31 | 7-23 | 1-3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 18 |
| M. Teal, F | 23 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| M. Abdul-Aleem, G | 22 | 5-11 | 1-4 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| T. Kellum, F | 12 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| J. Bush, G | 10 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| O. Odi, F | 10 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| M. Badejo, C | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 28-71 | 12-21 | 36 | 11 | 23 | 76 | |
| 39.4% | 57.1% | ||||||
| Houston Cougars | |||||||
| M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS | |
| T. Thomas, F | 32 | 4-9 | 3-5 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| L. Gibson, F | 29 | 8-9 | 4-4 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 20 |
| J. Stiggers, G | 27 | 6-13 | 2-2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 19 |
| J. Thompson, G | 22 | 1-5 | 4-4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| L. Barnes, G | 16 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| B. Morris, G | 25 | 4-7 | 2-2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| T. Womack, G | 23 | 1-5 | 2-3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| D. House, F | 15 | 1-6 | 4-6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| M. McLean, F | 11 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 26-61 | 21-26 | 52 | 12 | 18 | 81 | |
| 42.6% | 80.8% | ||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other games | |||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||
