A solid outing by James led Houston to a 125-123 win over Minnesota. "Take away James, and we'd have won this thing," said Minnesota coach Bob. "It was a very close game most of the way, and he was the one that put Houston over the top. I thought we had the right game plan and executed well. What's sad is that I don't know what we'd do differently next time, except for hoping for a more mortal performance by him."

Houston coach Bob was happy for the win, but concerned about the team's play. "I didn't think this was a very good team win. Our players seemed tempted to sit around and watch James do his stuff. That was enough for the win today, but on another day maybe James will be injured or our opponents can counter him, and we'll need the rest of the players to step up as well."

Houston was led by James (30 points, 8 boards, 2 assists, a block), Howard (24 points, 0 assists), Rogers (13 points, 6 boards, 4 assists). Minnesota was led by Glover (19 points, 7 boards, 1 assists, 5 blocks), Johnson (13 points, 2 steals), White (16 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, a steal, a block).

Houston jump to 2-0 after today's victory. They improve to #2 in the Southwest and advance to #4 overall in the Western Conference. Minnesota drop to 0-1 and 0-1 at home with this defeat. They remain at #4 in the Northwest and improve to #10 overall in the Western Conference.

box score Houston roster Minnesota roster