HOUSTON -- Houston is starting to make a habit of 40-point first quarters. After not scoring 40 points in the opening quarter in the last five seasons, the Rockets have done it five times this season and twice in the last three games. Terrence Jones had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and the Rockets opened a big early lead and beat the Detroit Pistons 118-110 on Saturday night for their third win in four games. Jones finished 10 of 15 from the floor as Houston shot 50 per cent for the game, including 61 per cent in the first half. Houston scored 41 points in the first quarter and finished 11 of 33 from behind the arc. "We got a big halftime lead and didnt play well in the second half," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "We came out and really moved the ball. We had it going up and down and just did a nice job of doing what weve been talking about doing, which is attacking early, getting inside to Dwight (Howard) and making some nice passes." James Harden added 20 points and 12 assists, Patrick Beverley had 19 points and Howard chipped in 17 points and eight rebounds. Reserve Omri Casspi scored 16 points and Jordan Hamilton had 13. While saying it was an important win before the Rockets begin a stretch against some of the top teams in the NBA on Tuesday against Miami, Howard did not like the way Houston came out in the second half. "I thought we should have really put the foot on the gas," Howard said. "We didnt. We allowed them to get back into the game, and that is not what we need to do if we want to be a championship team." Rodney Stuckey had 23 points on 10 of 17 shooting off the bench, and Josh Smith added 21 points for the Pistons, who dropped their fourth straight and seventh in eight games. Andre Drummond had 16 points and 17 rebounds, Greg Monroe had 10 points and 14 rebounds, and Brandon Jennings chipped in 11 points and eight assists for Detroit, which shot 45 per cent from the field. "In the first half, we didnt play with the energy, enthusiasm or desire you have to play at to play against any NBA team, let alone a high-level team like Houston," Detroit interim coach John Loyer said. "We came in here, and I told our guys we played harder in practice than the first 24 minutes. We had more juice, energy running a three-man weave than we did in the first half. There are two halves to a game, and fortunately, we played a much better second half." Detroit fell four games out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Drummond said the Pistons have enough time to make the playoffs. "We have enough time to do anything, and were four games out, so it comes to what we do as a team," Drummond said. "It cant be one or two people. We have to be as a collective group to want to buckle down and try to win games." Trailing 102-84 with 10:33 remaining, Detroit outscored the Rockets 13-5 over the next 4:22 to cut the lead to 10 on Smiths free throws, but Beverley nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to 16 with four minutes remaining. The Pistons closed within seven once more with a 10-1 run, capped by consecutive layups by Stuckey, but got no closer. "I think guys stopped playing a little bit because of the lead," Jones said. "We just tried to make sure that we got back to it on the defensive end to make sure we got the win. I think we did that late in the fourth." The Rockets, who never trailed, moved to 40-19. Only the 1993-94 team that started 40-15 got to 40 wins faster. Houston used a 16-2 run over a three-minute stretch of the first quarter to open a 23-6 lead on Howards two free throws 5 minutes into the game. "We did a good job of coming out with some aggression and getting some defensive stops and getting out in transition," Harden said. Houston expanded its lead to 58-33 on Howards free throw with 4:58 remaining in the first half. The Rockets led 69-46 at the break. NOTES: Houston forward Chandler Parsons missed the game with an illness. . Rockets centre Greg Smith underwent an exploratory arthroscopic knee surgery Wednesday to repair a medial meniscus tear and to examine changes to ligament structures in his right knee. Smith, who has missed 36 games this season, is out indefinitely. . Drummond leads the Eastern Conference with 43 double-doubles this season Keith Tkachuk Jersey . -- Miguel Angel Jimenez quickly shifted his focus back to the Ryder Cup after winning his first Champions Tour event. Dale Hawerchuk Jersey . Torres tells Spanish daily AS "in football you never know where you will be inside one month. Im going to work hard, thats all you can do with this last part of the season so important. http://www.jetsauthentic.com/authentic-t...ne-jets-jersey/. He was 40. Firefighters were called about 11 a.m. Friday because Brown was unresponsive at his home near the Inner Harbor, fire spokesman Battalion Chief Kevin Cartwright said. He said Brown was dead when firefighters arrived. Winnipeg Jets Jerseys . The Giants chances of winning the division were dealt a serious blow by the three-game sweep at the hands of the lowly Padres. The Giants open a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. San Francisco is still in good shape to clinch a wild-card berth, although it dropped into a tie with Pittsburgh in the race for the top spot. Teppo Numminen Jersey .Y. - OK, it is done.Fort Worth, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The TCU Horned Frogs, ranked fourth in the latest AP poll, continue to press for national recognition as they close out the 2014 regular season on Saturday versus fellow Big 12 Conference member, the Iowa State Cyclones. Tied with both sixth-ranked Baylor and ninth-ranked Kansas State (facing off against each other later in the day) at the top of the Big 12 standings with a record of 7-1, the Horned Frogs are aiming to claim the conference crown. Since losing a wild shootout against the Bears in Waco the second week of October, 61-58, TCU has rattled off six straight victories. The latest win for the Frogs came on Nov. 27 in a lopsided 48-10 final versus Texas. The team has now reached 10 wins in a season for the fifth time in the last seven seasons and ninth time in 13 campaigns under Gary Patterson. As for the Cyclones, they are the ones who have been blown away by the competition, winning a total of just two games against the likes of Iowa (20-17) and Toledo (37-30). Since the victory versus the Rockets on the same day that TCU fell to Baylor, Iowa State has dropped five straight outings. The latest of those failed attempts came last weekend versus West Virginia, 37-24, at home, dropping ISU to 0-8 in conference play this season. In terms of the all-time series between these two programs, TCU has won four of the previous five matchups. In Big 12 meetings, theyve split a pair of contests, with Iowa State posting a 37-23 victory over the Frogs in 2012, while TCU rebounded with a 21-17 decision in Ames last season. At home against the enigmatic Mountaineers, Iowa State led 21-7 in the second quarter before everything fell apart and eventually the Cyclones absorbed the double-digit setback. The hosts ran 11 more plays than WVU, but generated only 410 yards of offense, compared to 570 for the Mountaineers. Quarterback Sam Richardson converted 26-of-50 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns, but he was also intercepted twice and sacked three times. Tad Ecby and Aaron Wimberly both caught TD passes and the latter also scored once on the ground as he posted a team-best 77 rushing yards. They brought some different pressures, said Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads of the WVU defense. When you are looking at a team that has three down linemen and the ability to bring multiple blitzes from a lot of different places, you identify your protection and set everything. We were good to a point and they adjusted to that, and then we had to adjust at halftime to compensate for that. Defensively, against a backup quarterback the Cyclones were unable to come up with even a single sack and had just two tackles for loss overall, as well as two fumble recoveries in the setback. Sacks have been a rarity for the most part this season for the Cyclones, although Cory Morrissey seems to have gotten the hang of it with six ssuch tackles, while the rest of the roster has combined for only eight sacks.dddddddddddd Opponents have rung up twice as many sacks (28) over the 11 games played. Surrendering 511.4 ypg, ranking the program 120th in the nation this week, it should come as little surprise that ISU is 113th in the FBS in points allowed as well at 37.4 ppg. Trying to balance the scales is Richardson with his 57.9 percent accuracy and 251.7 ypg through the air. He has tossed 18 touchdowns against eight interceptions, with his most productive target being E.J. Bibbs with eight TDs on 45 catches through 10 appearances, but he is still listed as questionable for this weekend due to a knee injury. In front of an announced crowd of more than 96,000, the Horned Frogs completely dominated Texas as they extended their streak of consecutive games scoring at least 30 points to 13 in a row, the longest run in the nation. All phases of the game got involved in the scoring for TCU, beginning with quarterback Trevone Boykin who threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the visitors pulled away in the fourth quarter with four TDs. With the tradition that they have here (in Texas), its big for us, Boykin said of the statement win. We have the chance to prove ourselves, and we try to do that every time we go out there. During that final period, Josh Carraway returned an interception 33 yards for a TD, the second defensive score by the program on the night after Terrell Lathan brought back a fumble 40 yards for a score as well. Early on in the meeting the TCU offense stalled prematurely, and kicker Jaden Oberkrom came to the rescue with field goals of 42 and 29 yards. The Frogs forced six turnovers in the contest, with two interceptions coming from Sam Carter, while Marcus Mallet caused some major disruptions with 3.5 TFL and a forced fumble. I dont know if it set the tone or not but we knew, get on and off, give our offense more opportunities, Carter said of the forced turnovers. Those guys can score at any time, so the more times they get the ball, the better they are. Heading into action this week, the Horned Frogs are ranked second in the nation in turnover margin at plus-1.64 and all of those positive miscues have helped the offense to reach 46.1 ppg, third-best in the FBS. The defense may not carry the same hallmark as previous Patterson groups, in terms of yards allowed (370.7 ypg, 45th) and passing yards permitted (250.6 ypg, 92nd), but having a dominant offense helps to cover up those deficiencies. However, when it counts the most, the Frogs are there to shut down foes, allowing them to convert on just 29.6 percent of their third-down attempts. TCU is also 11th in the country in allowing first downs, so while there may be yards to earn against the Horned Frogs, the team still minimizes the impact as well as any squad in the country. 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