Tulsa made a furious comeback attempt after trailing by 17 points at halftime, but the nation’s 11th-ranked Houston Cougars squeaked out with a 66-64 win Saturday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Jeriah Horne had team-highs of 24 points and six rebounds to lead Tulsa, including 17 points in the second half. Sam Griffin scored 10 points with all three of his field goals coming on three-pointers in the final 2:52 to make it a two-point contest. Houston was led by Kyler Edwards with 29 points.

Tulsa shot just 25-percent from the floor and made only 1-of-11 three-pointers in the first 20 minutes. The Hurricane made only 13 of their final 16 field goal attempts of the first half. Tulsa was led by Horne’s seven points in the first 20 minutes.

At the intermission, Houston was shooting just 39-percent from the field but 41- percent from three-point range, converting on 7-of-17 treys.

“Obviously, that was a tough one. It’s really disappointing. Our effort was great in the second half. Actually we played hard in the first half, Houston threw some shots in late in the first half,” said Tulsa Coach Frank Haith.

“I’m proud of how hard our kids fought. I thought they gave everything they had in the ball game against one of the better teams in the country. We didn’t get any breaks in this game either.”

Tulsa fell to 6-9 overall and 0-4 in American Athletic Conference play, while Houston improved to 15-2 and 4-0 in league action.

Tulsa hosts Memphis at 2 p.m. Sunday.