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2026-27 · Regular season
Alperen Sengun scores 43 as the Houston Rockets hold off the Utah Jazz 125-118 for a third straight win
Alperen Sengun shot 17-of-24 for a season-high 43 as Houston survived a 30-10 Utah run and a late push led by rookie Darryn Peterson's career-high 28.
In this article
Alperen Sengun scored a season-high 43 points on 17-of-24 shooting with 12 rebounds and five assists, and the Houston Rockets beat the Utah Jazz 125-118 in an Emirates NBA Cup group game at Toyota Center on Friday, November 13. Houston won its third straight game and improved to 10-3. Utah fell to 1-12.
Sengun finished two points short of his career high of 45 and had only one turnover. The NBA said he is the third player in Rockets history, after Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994 and Yao Ming in 2004, with at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and five assists while shooting 70 percent or better.
Video: Houston Rockets / X.
Utah’s 30-10 third-quarter run
The game was tied at 27 after one quarter, and Houston led 63-53 at halftime. The Rockets were up 67-57 early in the third when Utah went on a 30-10 run. Rookie Darryn Peterson hit two threes in 41 seconds, Ace Bailey‘s step-back three and Keyonte George‘s 25-footer tied it at 69, and Peterson’s 26-foot step-back three gave the Jazz a 74-72 lead. Bailey’s running jumper with 3:31 left in the quarter made it 87-77.
Houston closed the period on a 15-2 run. Fred VanVleet scored seven points in less than a minute, on a 27-foot three, a pull-up jumper and two free throws, and Sengun scored the Rockets’ last six points of the quarter for a 92-89 lead.
Utah gets within one
Tari Eason scored Houston’s first four points of the fourth quarter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic hit two threes as Houston went up 102-94 with 9:48 left. George kept Utah close with 13 points in the quarter, including a four-point play, and Peterson’s pull-up jumper with 2:46 left cut it to 117-116.
Amen Thompson answered with a layup from Kevin Durant, and Sengun’s layup made it 121-116 with 1:25 left. After Mo Bamba’s layup, VanVleet’s nine-foot jumper with 11.9 seconds left and two Durant free throws closed it out.
Video: Utah Jazz / X.
Around the box
Peterson had a career-high 28 points with seven rebounds, four threes and two steals. George scored 27 with seven assists, Bailey added 21 on 7-of-13 shooting, and the three combined for 76 points. Jaxson Hayes scored 12 on 5-of-6 shooting in 13 minutes before he left with a left knee injury and did not return (the Hayes injury). Bamba had nine points and nine rebounds off the bench.
Durant had 22 points and six assists and made all 10 of his free throws, VanVleet scored 17, Eason had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Bogdanovic scored 11 in 12 minutes off the bench on 3-of-4 threes. Thompson had 12 points and 10 rebounds in 41 minutes. Houston made 27 of 34 free throws, committed eight turnovers and won the rebounding battle 47-41.
The Rockets played without Marcus Smart, who served the first game of his three-game suspension (the Smart suspension), Steven Adams (right soleus strain) and Clint Capela (right ankle sprain). Utah was without Lauri Markkanen (right hand fracture), Jaren Jackson Jr. (right MCL tear) and Jusuf Nurkic (right second plantar plate tear). Attendance was 18,055.
What’s next
The Rockets visit the Washington Wizards on Sunday, November 15, at 7 p.m. ET (2 a.m. Monday Cairo time). The Jazz host the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET (midnight Cairo time, going into Monday).
Full box score and play-by-play: Game Center. All-time head-to-head. Team pages: Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz.
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