Houston junior Kyle Poynter scored 47 points Monday night to lead the Houston Tigers past Naylor 89-72 in the opening round of the Liberty Tournament.
The Tigers (7-6) will face top-seeded Liberty at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Poynter, who made four 3-pointers and was 15-for-19 at the foul line, finished just short of the single-game school record. Marty Henderson scored 50 points in February 1993 against Cabool.
Forget school records. Poynter was in a battle to finish with the most points in Monday’s game.
Naylor’s Travis Thomas also scored 47 points in a losing effort. Poynter had an opportunity to top Thomas when he fouled out with just over one minute left. But Poynter missed both free throws.
Poynter’s supporting cast was the difference. Jesse Setters hit three triples and scored 16 points for the Tigers. Ryan O’Neil added 14.
Box score
Houston 89, Naylor 72
NAYLOR – Somers 1 0-0 2. Kovach 2 2-3 6. Wilkson 3 0-0 7. Woolward 2 0-0 5. Cullison 2 0-0 5. Thomas 17 8-10 47. Totals 27 10-13 72.
HOUSTON (7-6) – KyPoynter 14 15-19 47. Setters 5 3-4 16. O’Neil 6 0-1 14. DeWitt 2 3-4 8. TScheets 1 2-4 4. Totals 28 23-32 89.
3-pointers: Naylor 6 (Thomas 4, Wilkson, Cullison); Houston 10 (Poynter 4, Setters 3, O’Neil 2, DeWitt 1).