The last time the Houston Rockets visited the Smoothie King Center, they held a 25-point lead before the New Orleans Pelicans made the second-largest comeback in franchise history to win.

The Rockets were back in the building Sunday night and built an even bigger lead that the Pelicans couldn’t come close to overcoming.

In fact, Houston’s 134-102 rout matched the largest margin of defeat in a home game this season for New Orleans, which lost to Boston 122-90 in the second home game of the season on Oct. 27.

Alperen Sengun had 36 points and 14 rebounds and four teammates scored in double figures to lead the Rockets (45-20), who won the season series 3-1 as the road team prevailed for the first time.

Sengun made 12-of-23 field-goal attempts, including 5-of-7 3-pointers, converted 7-of-8 free throws and added seven assists, three steals and three blocks in less than 32 minutes.

“He’s a handful,” Pelicans interim head coach James Borrego said. “He’s one of the best centers out there. He’s just a physical presence.”

Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr. scored 20 points each, former LSU star Tari Eason scored 15 and Amen Thompson added 14 for the Rockets.

Houston, which leads the NBA in rebounds per game (48.1), held a 59-36 edge on the boards as reserve center Clint Capela matched Sengun’s 14 in barely 16 minutes.

“We’ve got to be better on the board for sure,” Borrego said. “It just comes down to physicality and overall effort. It’s one-on-one, two-on-one at times, and you’ve got to find a way to fight and scrap and claw to get an offensive rebound, to get a defensive rebound.

“We just did not bring it. Some guys did, but not everybody.”

Forward Saddiq Bey, who scored 18 points, led New Orleans with seven rebounds and the Rockets’ 22-8 advantage in offensive rebounds led to a 31-10 edge in second-chance points.

Dejounte Murray, whose availability was in question until shortly before tip-off because of a left hand contusion, scored 19 points. Williamson matched Bey’s 18, Derik Queen had 13, Jeremiah Fears scored 12 and Herb Jones 10 for the Pelicans (25-51), who lost their fifth straight.

New Orleans, which prevailed 133-128 in its near-record comeback Dec. 18, trailed by as many as 23 points in the first half Sunday but chipped away and got as close as 13 points in the third quarter before Houston expanded the lead the rest of the way.

The Pelicans will make a quick road trip to Portland on Thursday and Sacramento on Friday before returning home next week for their final two home games of the season. Leading scorer Trey Murphy missed his third consecutive game because of a sprained right ankle.

The Rockets increased their 21-point halftime lead to 24 early in the third quarter, but the Pelicans used a 14-3 run to creep within 76-63. Sengun made a 3-pointer and Smith added two free throws to push the lead to 18.

New Orleans got as close as 14 on two occasions, but Houston rebuilt the lead to 101-80 at the end of the third quarter and led by as many as 33 in the fourth.

Both teams led by as many as six points in the early going. The Rockets held leads of 12-6 and 14-8 before the score was tied twice. New Orleans took its biggest lead, 26-20, before the score was tied two more times, the last at 29 at the end of the first quarter.

Houston scored the first eight points of the second quarter. Fears converted a 3-point play to stop the run, but Sengun and Smith scored five points each and Eason added a 3-pointer during a 15-0 run that gave the Rockets a 52-32 lead.

Karlo Matkovic made a dunk to stop that run, but Houston took its biggest lead of the half, 64-41, on a 3-pointer by Sengun before holding a 68-47 halftime lead. The Pelicans missed all nine of their 3-pointers in the second quarter while the Rockets made 6 of 12.