By Michael A. Lutz
The Associated Press

HOUSTON - The Houston Cougars contained Memphis forward Chris Massie, but lost track of John Grice. Grice scored 15 points, including a 4-for-8 effort on 3-pointers, as the Tigers rolled over the Cougars 71-56 Thursday night for their 10th straight victory.

Memphis (21-5, 12-3 Conference USA) peppered the Cougars (8-18, 6-9) with 3-pointers, hitting nine of 26. Anthony Rice added 11 points for the Tigers, including three 3s.

"They showed why they won 10 in a row and they're a top-20 team in the country," Houston coach Ray McCallum said. "They definitely should get an NCAA bid with an outstanding seed."

Massie scored 12 points for the Tigers, who have clinched the C-USA National Division title. Jeremy Hunt added 11 points.

"They did a good job on Chris Massie, but he did a good job of passing the ball and that opened it up from the outside," Memphis coach John Calipari said.

Andre Owens led the Cougars with 17 points, and Jeremee McGuire added 12.

The Cougars were trying to beat a ranked team for the first time since 1996, when they upset the Tigers.

It wasn't going to happen this time. Memphis outscored the Cougars 17-4 on second-chance points and had a 15-6 margin in points off turnovers.

"Coming into the game, they knew we played a lot of zone," Houston coach Ray McCallum said. "Grice shot well and Jeremy Hunt has that outside range. They have that capability and Massie did a great job of getting the ball out to them."

Rice put the Tigers, who led 35-26 at halftime, in command with consecutive 3-pointers. Grice added a 3-point basket and a layup as Memphis moved out to a 52-37 advantage with 11:20 left in the game.

Calipari was happy to see the 3-pointers falling.

"I thought it was kind of like fool's gold, because we were jacking up threes without posting it up first," Calipari said. "But it worked out for us."

The Tigers had to scrap for the early edge, but eased to a 19-11 lead on a 3-point basket by John Grice. It was one of five first-half 3s for Memphis.

Owens followed with a 3-pointer for Houston, starting an 11-6 run that cut the deficit to 25-23. At that point, the Cougars were outshooting the Tigers 52 percent to 40 percent.

Then Houston went cold. After a 3-pointer by Jarrett Sidney with 6:11 to play, the Cougars didn't score again in the first half. Memphis got the ball inside to Massie three times over the final minutes for the Tigers' halftime lead.

The Tigers' last loss was Jan. 25 to St. Louis. Houston beat Memphis twice last season.

"I thought we did a good job on Massie," McCallum said. "He dominated Cincinnati and TCU and he's been on a tear. We tried to use our quickness and double him because we knew he could out muscle us."