• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Miles lifts Jazz over Rockets

Mar 1, 2012 - 5:39 AM Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - C.J. Miles came off the bench and scored a game-high 27 points as Utah ran away with a 104-83 victory over Houston at Energy Solutions Arena on Wednesday.

Devin Harris, who left the game in the third with flu-like symptoms, netted 19 points for Utah as it snapped a four-game losing streak. Josh Howard and Al Jefferson scored 14 points apiece and Gordon Hayward added 10.

"It's a great win for us," said Utah head coach Tyrone Corbin after the game. "We talked about, at the beginning of the year, not having losing streaks of three games or more. This is the first one this year for us. We don't want to have any more of those losing streaks. We want to make sure we take care of our business."

Luis Scola had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Houston attack, while Goran Dragic and Kyle Lowry added 14 and 13, respectively. Chase Budinger added 11 off the bench for the Rockets, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Trailing by five to start the second half, Lowry opened with a three-pointer to make it a two-point margin, but Utah reeled off a 9-0 surge to take a double-digit advantage with 8:33 left in the quarter.

The lead remained in double figures for the majority of the quarter, as the home team took a 76-63 lead heading into the final frame.

Houston trimmed the deficit to 10 after a Courtney Lee three, but Alec Burks converted on back-to-back layups to press the lead to 17, 85-68, with just over nine minutes to play.

The lead breeched the 20-point mark as Howard finished a dunk to give Utah a 100-79 advantage with 3:23 left in the game as Utah cruised to the double- digit victory.

"I think we definitely felt like we got outworked tonight," admitted Lowry after the loss. "Those guys played with the intensity and tenacity that a desperate team, that came off a four-game losing streak, wanted to get a win."

Scola scored 12 points in the first, as the Rockets closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 26-18 lead into the second quarter.

After back-to-back three-pointers from Budinger and Dragic pressed the lead back to eight, the Jazz scored seven straight to cut the deficit to one, 36-35.

Harris netted the final eight of the half for Utah, which took a 49-44 edge into the locker room.

Game Notes

Houston will host Denver on Friday, while Utah will begin a back-to-back on Friday as it hosts Miami and then travels to Dallas on Saturday...Utah was without second-leading scorer Paul Millsap, who missed the contest with a bruised left heel...Utah dominated the points in the paint, outscoring Houston 58-32.