Recap: Utah vs. Houston

By Sports Network

Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Aaron Brooks poured in 19 points and dished out nine assists, as the Houston Rockets used a strong second half to take down the Utah Jazz, 113-96, at EnergySolutions Arena.

Luis Scola added 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who have won three straight games after a season-opening loss at Portland. Rookie Chase Budinger added 17 points off the bench. Trevor Ariza chipped in with 15 points, while Shane Battier ended with 13 points. Chuck Hayes finished with 12 points and nine boards for the victors.

Mehmet Okur paced the Jazz with 21 points. Ronnie Brewer tallied 19 points for Utah, which was coming off a win over the Clippers on Friday. Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko each had 18 points in defeat.

After the Jazz scored the first four points of the fourth to take a one-point edge, the Rockets went on an impressive 23-8 run to take control of the contest.

Houston made four three-pointers during the spurt, including a trey from Kyle Lowry with 5:02 left to make it a 102-84 game. The Rockets' lead was never in jeopardy the rest of the way.

Down 24-19, the Jazz bridged the first and second periods with a 13-2 run. Wesley Matthews' layup capped of the flurry and gave Utah a 32-26 lead with 10:08 to play until half.

The remainder of the first half remained tight and the Jazz used four points from Williams at the end of the second quarter to take a 57-54 lead at the break.

With the score tied at 65, Houston put together a 9-1 spurt. A Scola jumper capped off the run with 3:36 left in the third, giving the Rockets a 74-66 lead. Utah scored seven of the final nine points of the quarter to cut the gap to 79-76 heading to the fourth.