Freshman sensation Tre Johnson scored 28 points to lead a balanced Texas attack as the 19th-ranked Longhorns poured it on early in the second half on the way to a 90-59 win over Houston Christian on Friday in Austin, Texas.
Texas (1-1) never trailed and was up by seven at halftime before reeling off a 24-2 run to begin the second half. Johnson was a big part of that spurt as he canned a pair of 3-pointers and scored 10 points in that stretch.
Johnson has scored a combined 57 points in Texas’ first two games.
Arthur Kaluma added 15, Chendall Weaver had 12, Jordan Pope scored 11 and Kadin Shedrick and Jayson Kent hit for 10 points each for the Longhorns in the Friday victory. Texas lost to Ohio State in Las Vegas in its season opener on Monday.
Julian Mackey led the Huskies (1-1) with 20 points. Bryson Dawkins added 13, all in the first half.
Texas led from the jump but never by as many as six points until Kaluma canned a jumper at the 14:56 mark to push the advantage to 15-9. Houston Christian fought back, closing within 27-24 on an Elijah Brooks’ free throw with 7:26 to play in the half.
Texas got some momentum and stoked its lead to eight points when Johnson hit a nifty stop-and-go layup off the break with 3:51 left in the first half. After the Huskies closed within three, Johnson finished the half with a ringing 3-pointer to give Texas a 42-35 advantage at the break.
Johnson led Texas with 12 points before halftime while Kaluma added 11 as the Longhorns shot 63 percent from the floor in the half.
Dawkins led all scorers with 13 points as Houston Christian outscored the Longhorns by six points at the free-throw line and forged a 23-8 edge in bench scoring over the first 20 minutes.
The Longhorns roared out of the break, scoring the first 12 points of the second half — with the run bracketed by 3-pointers from Johnson. The surge continued with Texas’ defense upping its intensity and holding the Huskies to 2-of-12 shooting over the first nine minutes of the half.
–Field Level Media
