Kingston Flemings scored 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting and No. 1 Houston escaped with a 73-72 win over No. 22 Auburn on Sunday afternoon in Birmingham, Ala.Chris Cenac Jr. added 18 points and nine rebounds for Houston (4-0). Emanuel Sharp scored 13 points and Milos Uzan finished with 11 points. Flemings added a game-high seven assists for the Cougars, who finished at 43.1% shooting from the field and held Auburn to 38.6%.Keyshawn Hall scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Auburn (3-1). Tahaad Pettiford scored 15 points and Kevin Overton contributed 13 points for the Tigers.Auburn scored six straight points to cut the deficit to 73-72 in the final minute, but Pettiford had shots blocked by Flemings and Kalifa Sakho in the final 15 seconds. Auburn held on to the ball and had a chance for a buzzer-beater shot, but Houston’s defenders broke up a lob pass for KeShawn Murphy near the rim as time expired.No. 2 Purdue 97, Akron 79Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Boilermakers blasted the Zips in West Lafayette, Ind., to give coach Matt Painter his 500th career win.Kaufman-Renn was joined by Fletcher Loyer (16 points), Braden Smith (16), Oscar Cluff (14) and reserve Omer Mayer (14) in double figures. Cluff added 14 rebounds and Smith dished out 10 assists, making it three double-doubles in one game for Purdue (4-0).Tavari Johnson scored a game-high 20 points for the Zips (3-1), while Evan Mahaffey added 12 and Eric Mahaffey tallied 10. Akron shot 13 of 33 (39.4%) from the 3-point line but attempted fewer free throws (17) than Purdue made (18).
