HOUSTON -- Danuel House had 23 points and 9 rebounds as the Houston Cougars overcame a sluggish start to defeat the Howard Bison 75-62 in a regional round of the Legends Classic Thursday night.

TaShawn Thomas finished with 11 points, 18 rebounds and 7 blocks, Jherrod Stiggers added 16 points and L.J. Rose chipped in 10 points and five assists as the Cougars (5-0) rallied from a 10-point first half deficit.

James Daniel had a game-high 25 points on 7 of 19 shooting to lead the Bison, who shot 35.5 percent from the floor.

Prince Okoroh added 11 points and Damon Collins had 10 points for Howard (2-4).

Howard kept it close in the opening minutes of the second half, cutting Houston's lead to 38-35 on a 3-pointer by Daniel with 17:44 remaining.

Houston would pull away from there, jumping out to a 51-37, capping a 13-2 run.

The Bison would cut the lead to eight, 51-43, on a Collins layup with 9 minutes to go, but Houston would not let them get any closer, responding with a 14-6 spurt to open up a 65-49 lead on two free throws by House with 4:43 remaining.

Howard jumped out to a 19-9 lead on a 10-0 run over a two-minute span of the first half, capped by a three-pointer by Daniel with 13:51 remaining in the half. Daniel had six points in the stretch.

Houston responded with a 17-4 run of its own over the next 9 minutes to open up a 26-23 lead on two L.J. Rose free throws with 4:39 left in the first half. Houston had five players score in the run with Rose and House each scoring four points to lead the way.

The Cougars led 34-30 at the half.