Vanderbilt beats Houston in NIT

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - Reserve Sam Howard scored 14 points as Vanderbilt beat Houston 59-50 Wednesday night in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament. <br> <br> Vanderbilt (17-14) will play Louisiana Tech in the first round, with the location and day to be decided later Wednesday night. <br> <br> Houston (18-15) was making its first postseason appearance since 1993, and it showed. The Cougars had won six of their last nine games coming in but suddenly couldn&#39;t find the basket. They led only once in each half. <br> <br> When Patrick Okafor hit the first of two free throws to put Houston up 37-36 with 9:32 left, Howard jumpstarted a 17-0 run with 11 points. His 3-pointer gave Vandy, which has NIT banners from a 1990 championship and a runner-up finish in 1994, a lead it wouldn&#39;t lose again. <br> <br> Russell Lakey capped the run with a free throw for Vandy&#39;s biggest lead at 53-37 with 5:34 remaining. <br> <br> Houston had four players averaging in double figures, but only Louis Truscott came close to matching his usual production with 13 points as the Cougars shot only 30 percent (18-of-60). <br> <br> Vanderbilt didn&#39;t shoot much better. Center Darius Coulibaly turned in his best game with a career-high 24 minutes and a season-best seven points in only his third start of the season. <br> <br> Neither team could find the basket in a messy first half. <br> <br> The Cougars turned in their worst first-half performance of the season in trailing 23-19 at halftime. They went nearly nine minutes without a field goal, but still tied the game at 18 with a quick 7-0 spurt keyed by Dominic Smith&#39;s 3-point play with 5:25 left. <br> <br> But Vanderbilt, which suffered through a nearly six-minute scoring drought of its own, held onto the lead with a 3-pointer by Howard.

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