Jalen Green scored 36 points, 24 of them in the first half, as the visiting Houston Rockets defeated the San Antonio Spurs 106-101 on Monday.

The Rockets split the teams’ two-games-in-three-night series after the host Spurs won 109-106 on Saturday.

In the rematch, Houston led by 21 points with 3:17 left in the third quarter before the Spurs came back with flying colors to get within 88-86 on a Stephon Castle layup with 8:07 left in the fourth quarter.

But with 5:47 minutes left in the game, Green scored the following six points with a three-pointer and a subsequent three-point shot, and the Rockets were able to hold their own.

Jabari Smith Jr. scored 17 points for Houston, which alternated losses and wins in four games. Alperen Sangun collected 12 points and 12 rebounds and Fred VanVleet scored 11 points and provided nine assists.

Jeremy Sochan led San Antonio with 22 points. Chris Paul scored 16 points, Malaki Branham scored 15 points, Victor Wembanyama collected 14 points and 20 rebounds and Zack Collins added 11 points for the Spurs, who have lost two of their first three games.

The Rockets outscored San Antonio 14-3 in the first four-plus minutes of the game behind five points each from Smith and Green. Houston’s second unit kept the momentum going and extended the lead to 29-15 after a tip from Tari Eason to end the opening period.

Green hit four straight 3-pointers starting at the 3:21 mark of the second quarter, helping Houston extend its lead to 62-45 at halftime, its largest margin of the contest to that point. Green had 12 of the Rockets’ final 14 points in the first half and led all scorers with 24 before halftime after hitting six of his seven shots from long range.

Paul and Sochan outscored the Spurs with 10 points each in the half.

San Antonio cut its deficit to just 12 points when Sochan led the way with a hook shot with 8:03 left in the third quarter.

The Rockets came back and extended the lead to 80-59 after two free throws from Cam Whitmore. There were 3:17 remaining before San Antonio countered, getting two three-pointers from Branham to get within 87-75 in the final 12 minutes.

–Field level media