Kingston Flemings scored 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting and No. 1 Houston escaped with a 73-72 win over No. 22 Auburn on Sunday afternoon in Birmingham, Ala.
Chris Cenac Jr. added 18 points and nine rebounds for Houston (4-0). Emanuel Sharp scored 13 points and Milos Uzan finished with 11 points. Flemings added a game-high seven assists for the Cougars, who finished at 43.1% shooting from the field and held Auburn to 38.6%.
Keyshawn Hall scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Auburn (3-1). Tahaad Pettiford scored 15 points and Kevin Overton contributed 13 points for the Tigers.
Auburn scored six straight points to cut the deficit to 73-72 in the final minute, but Pettiford had shots blocked by Flemings and Kalifa Sakho in the final 15 seconds. Auburn held on to the ball and had a chance for a buzzer-beater shot, but Houston’s defenders broke up a lob pass for KeShawn Murphy near the rim as time expired.
No. 2 Purdue 97, Akron 79
Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Boilermakers blasted the Zips in West Lafayette, Ind., to give coach Matt Painter his 500th career win.
Kaufman-Renn was joined by Fletcher Loyer (16 points), Braden Smith (16), Oscar Cluff (14) and reserve Omer Mayer (14) in double figures. Cluff added 14 rebounds and Smith dished out 10 assists, making it three double-doubles in one game for Purdue (4-0).
Tavari Johnson scored a game-high 20 points for the Zips (3-1), while Evan Mahaffey added 12 and Eric Mahaffey tallied 10. Akron shot 13 of 33 (39.4%) from the 3-point line but attempted fewer free throws (17) than Purdue made (18).
No. 10 Florida 82, Miami 68
Florida’s Alex Condon totaled 19 points and seven rebounds, and the No. 10 Gators handed the Hurricanes their first loss in the Jacksonville Hoops Showdown in Jacksonville, Fla.
Condon made 8 of 12, including 2 of 4 from long range, before fouling out with 5:06 left to pace the Gators (3-1), who were 27 of 59 (45.8%) from the floor. Thomas Haugh posted 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Rueben Chinyelu had 16 points and 12 boards before fouling out at 6:04. Urban Klavzar had 15 points and was 4 of 7 from deep.
A former Florida recruit, Malik Reneau had 22 points and 11 rebounds and fouled out for the Hurricanes (3-1), who were 15 of 27 (55.6%) at the foul line. Tru Washington scored 16 points. Trey Donaldson had 11 points, four rebounds and six assists.
