Wayne Jessen was a winner in his debut with the Houston Tigers.
Michael Buckner scored 20 points and Ty Scheets chipped in 14 as the Tigers pulled away from Naylor 72-59 Monday night in the 47th annual Houston Tiger Invitational.
Houston outscored the Eagles 23-8 in the second quarter to build a double-digit advantage it never relinquished to give Jessen a victory in his first game on the Tigers’ sidelines.
Ryan O’Neil scored all nine of his points in the second quarter and Chad Hutsell had eight for Houston, which got points from nine different players. Jonathan Page, Jesse Setters and Tyler DeWitt scored five points apiece.
With the Tigers (1-0) trailing 17-13 late in the closing minutes of the first quarter, Buckner drilled a 3-pointer that ignited a 10-0 run. Consecutive baskets and a free throw by O’Neil put Houston ahead 23-17.
After Naylor closed the gap to two, Page had a conventinal 3-point play, Buckner hit O’Neil for a transition basket and Scheets converted an offensive stickback as part of nine unanswered points that made it 34-23.
Naylor closed a 14-point halftime deficit to single digits midway through the third quarter, but DeWitt nailed a triple and long jumper on consecutive possessions to push Houston’s lead back to double figures.
Naylor 17 8 16 18 – 59
Houston 16 23 17 16 – 72
NAYLOR – Somers 0 1-2 1. Kovach 1 0-0 2. McGee 1 2-2 4. Thomas 11 4-8 27. Hogan 0 0-2 0. Somers 7 2-8 17. Johnson 4 0-0 8. Totals 24 9-22 59.
HOUSTON (1-0) – Herndon 1 0-0 2. Page 1 3-5 5. Oakley 0 4-4 4. Buckner 5 9-11 20. Setters 2 1-2 5. DeWitt 2 0-0 5. O’Neil 3 3-4 9. Hutsell 3 2-4 8. TScheets 6 2-3 14. Totals 23 24-33 72.
3-pointers: Naylor 2 (Thomas, Somers); Houston 2 (Buckner, Setters).