ORLANDO, Fla. — LJ Cryer scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half to lead No. 1 Houston to a 67-59 comeback victory over UCF on Wednesday night and clinch at least a share of the regular seed . Big 12 title season in the Cougars' first season in the conference.
Houston, which came out of the American Athletic Conference, has won a conference tournament or regular-season title in six consecutive seasons.
The Cougars can clinch an outright conference title with a win in their regular-season finale against No. 14 Kansas on Saturday or a loss to sixth-ranked Iowa State on Saturday at Kansas State.
“We knew the Big 12 is the best conference in college basketball,” Cougars forward J'Wan Roberts said. “Houston has been a winning program for a long time. It didn't really matter what conference we ended up going to, once we traveled with our DNA and our toughness, I feel like we can compete with anyone in the nation.”
Houston (27-3, 14-3) led by nine points after a Cryer 3-pointer with 2:18 left. UCF (15-14, 6-11) pulled within four with just over a minute left, and then Cryer made another clutch shot to pull away.
The Cougars trailed by as many as seven points and never led in the first half. They didn't take their first lead until Jamal Shead hit a 3-pointer to make the score 45-42 with about 12 minutes left in the second half.
Houston's defense stifled UCF during the second half, limiting the Knights to one field goal for nearly five minutes to take control of the game.
“I feel like there were some turnovers for sure,” UCF guard Darius Johnson said. “We were playing on the perimeter and allowing them to get comfortable at D.”
Shead finished with 16 points and eight assists. Roberts had 12 points and seven rebounds. Cryer was 9 of 17 from the field, including 5 of 11 on three-pointers.
“Coach tells me to keep shooting whether I hit or miss,” Cryer said. “Once I started, they did a great job of putting the ball in my hands and my teammates did a great job trusting me with the ball. We went out and did what we did.”
CJ Walker led UCF with 15 points. Jaylin Sellers added 12 points.
The Knights shot 45.5% in the game. They held the Cougars to 37.5% shooting and 2 of 11 from 3 in the first half.
Houston forced 18 turnovers and scored 22 points.
UCF scored just four points after 10 forced turnovers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
