Wichita State pushed 14^th-ranked Houston to two overtimes but couldn't pull out a win.
 
J'Wan Roberts' dunk with 1.2 seconds left gave the visiting Cougars a 76-74 victory on Sunday afternoon in front of a season-high 9,070 fans at Charles Koch Arena.
 
Craig Porter Jr. scored 17 points to lead the Shockers (13-11, 4-8 American), including step-back three-pointer that knotted the game at 74 with 5.4 seconds remaining.
 
Josh Carlton tallied 23 points (12 of them in OT) and 11 rebounds for Houston (22-4, 11-2), which maintained its one-game lead over second-place SMU in the American Athletic Conference standings.
 
The Cougars squandered opportunities to win the game in the final seconds of regulation and again in the first overtime but made good on their third chance.
 
After Porter's basket, the Cougars' Jamal Shead dribbled his way through the defense and to the edge of the lane where he shoveled to a cutting Roberts for the game-winning slam.
 
The sequence took a little over four seconds.
 
It was the ninth assist of the day for Shead, who tallied 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals, and the only basket for Roberts, an unlikely hero who clocked seven of his 11 minutes in overtime after starting forward Fabian White Jr. fouled out.
 
The basket spoiled an otherwise memorable afternoon for Porter. He sank a game-tying free throw with 18 seconds left in the first overtime and scored all eight Shocker points in the second stanza.
 
Ditto for the Shockers, who have twice dropped overtime games against highly-rated teams: Arizona (No. 2 in the latest NCAA NET ratings) and now Houston (No. 4). Five of WSU's eight conference losses have been one-possession games in the final 60 seconds.
 
Ricky Council IV shared high-scoring honors with 17 points and secured his second double-double of the year with 10 rebounds.
 
Tyson Etienne added 15 points to bring his career total to 998 and Dexter Dennis moved to within 29 points of 1,000 after tallying nine points and 10 boards.
 
Over the last four seasons, WSU has won 23 games when shooting 40%-or-less from the field. That number is second-most nationally behind Houston, which scratched out its nation-best 27^th win in that span.
 
Both sides shot 39 percent in a physical affair.
 
The Shockers outscored the visitors 23-9 at the foul line on 88.5 percent accuracy.
 
UH had 18 more field goal attempts and scored 22 of its points off of turnovers and 23 on second-chances.
 
WSU won the overall rebounding battle (43-42) but struggled to keep the Cougars off the offensive glass, especially after starting center Morris Udeze fouled out in the final minute of regulation.
 
11 of Houston's 20 overtime points came after offensive rebounds. The Cougars grabbed seven of them during the two overtime sessions.
 
In 50 minutes of basketball, neither side led by more than six points. There were 12 ties, totaling 11 minutes, 33 seconds.

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REGULATION:
 
The Shockers' largest lead came near the midway point of the first half when Udeze's three-point play made it 16-10.
 
Houston moved in front with a 9-0 run, fueled by threes from Taze Moore and White and took a 28-24 lead into halftime.
 
The Cougars scored the first basket of the second half, but Dennis and Kenny Pohto both made threes during a 10-0 WSU spurt that turned a six-point deficit into a four-point Shocker lead.
 
Etienne's driving layup put the hosts ahead 38-33 with 12:38 to go
 
UH answered with a 9-2 push to regain the lead and upped their margin to six points, 54-48, on Edwards' step-back jumper with 3:51 to play.
 
Down the stretch, WSU put the ball in the hands of Porter and Council, and the two guards found success driving the basket for layups and fouls. Council hit two free throws, Porter drove for a dunk and then tacked on two more at the line during a 6-0 run that tied the game at 54 with 1:27 left in regulation.
 
Shead went up-and-under for a go-ahead layup with 51 seconds left, but Council converted two more free throws to knot it at 56 with 39 seconds to go.
 
Shead had two potential go-ahead shots in last seven seconds but couldn't convert either.

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OVERTIME:
 
In overtime, Carlton turned a put-back into a three-point play and dunked the next time down to spot the Cougars to a 64-58 advantage near the 3:00-mark.
 
Etienne's three gave the Shockers life, and Council brought the hosts within a point, 66-65, on a second-effort layup.
 
WSU forced a shot-clock violation to re-take possession and Porter drew another foul with 18 seconds to go. His first free throw tied it at 66 but the second was off-line.
 
Houston played for a last shot but left empty-handed after Ramon Walker Jr. missed a three.

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DOUBLE OVERTIME:
 
Cougar fans might have felt the stars aligning when Carlton, with the shot clock winding down, attempted (and made) his first three-pointer of the season with 3:40 to play in the second overtime.
 
WSU put the ball in Porter's hands in each of the next three possessions and was rewarded with two layups and a free throw. A 71-69 lead with 1:58 to play was the Shockers' first since the 10:30-mark of the first half.
 
Houston's Kyler Edwards knotted the game at 71 on a floater with 1:43 to play.
 
WSU turned it over with 1:15 to go, and Houston had the ball for the next 60 seconds, helped by a pair of offensive rebounds. Walker scooped up a miss and fed Carlton underneath the basket for a three-point play and a 74-71 lead with 15 seconds on the clock.
 
Porter nearly extended the game to a third overtime when he swished a step-back three from the top of the key, but Houston made the most of one last opportunity to win the game.
 

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NOTABLE:
***WSU played its first double-overtime game in more than two years. On Jan. 12, 2020, the Shockers defeated UConn, 89-86, at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.).
***This was the first double-overtime game at Charles Koch Arena since a triple-OT win over Indiana State on Jan. 22, 2011 (93-83).
***This was the 24^th Shocker game to last two-or-more overtimes. WSU is 13-11.
***Not only did Council rejoin the Shocker starting lineup (his first start since Jan. 16), he played 48:27 out of a possible 50 minutes. That's the most by a WSU player since Feb. 17, 1990 when John Cooper played all 50 in a double-OT loss at Creighton.
***Houston won for just the fourth time in Wichita (4-13). The teams have split four AAC era game at the Roundhouse.
 

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UP NEXT:
The Shockers are off until next weekend, then play back-to-back on the road. They're at Memphis next Sunday, Feb. 27 (1:30 p.m. CT, ESPN2) and at Tulsa on Wednesday, Mar. 2 (8 p.m. CT).