Rice erases double-digit first half deficit and defeats HCU 65-56

POSTED: December 2, 2023 -- 10:34 p.m. CST

HOUSTON, TX (Tudor Fieldhouse) -- The Rice Owls' defense -- yes, defense -- was key to the Owls' comeback win over the Houston Christian Huskies Saturday afternoon. Rice struggled to make shots for most of the first half and trailed the winless Huskies by as much as 13 (25-12) in the first half.

Rice (3-5) was 0 for 11 on three-point attempts before guard Travis Evee finally made a 3-pointer to cut Rice's deficit to 27-19. Evee followed with a layup before Rice freshman forward Keanu Dawes swished a three-pointer from the top of the key to bring Rice within 5 (24-19). Evee scored a layup and hit another three to tie HCU at 29 with 2:22 left in the first half.

HCU's Porter Bazil made a layup one minute later for the final points in the first half.

HCU led 31-29 at halftime. Evee scored 12 of Rice's 29 first half points. Rice made 12 of 33 (36.4 fg%) while HCU made 14 of 34 (41.2 fg%) in the opening half.

The roles reversed in the second half as HCU's offense struggled to make shots. In the first 7 minutes of the second half, Rice blitzed HCU with an 18-5 run to lead 47-36.

With 7:41 to go in the second half, Dawes scored layup for Rice's largest lead of the game (53-39); however, HCU guard Marcus Greene scored 6 points during a 9-0 HCU run to cut Rice's lead to 5 (53-48) with 5:55 remaining in the game.

Rice responded with a 7-0 run in 82 seconds. Owls' big man Max Fiedler scored a layup; guard Alem Huseinovic scored a putback layup and Dawes sank his three-pointer of the game.

HCU did not get closer than 8 the rest of the game.

Dawes finished the game with season-highs of 14 points and 8 rebounds. Evee scored 18 points to lead the Owls. Mekhi Mason was next with 17 points.

Rice limited HCU to 29.4 fg% (10 for 34) in the second half and 35.3 fg% (24 for 68) for the game. The Huskies made 3 of 17 three-point attempts (17.6 3pt%).

"I'm really happy to get the win. A good word to use for this game is sloppy," Scott Pera, Rice Head Coach said after the game. "Offensively, we just couldn't get any rhythm going. That's a credit to (Houston Christian's) defense. But, the good news is, we would not have won that game in the past.

"We won with our defense. They shot 35% from the floor and 18% from three. Any chance you do that, you're going to give yourself a chance to win. So, I'm really proud of that. That's back-to-back pretty good defensive performances by us."

NEXT:

Rice's next game is Wednesday, December 6, at the Houston Cougars. Tip is set for 7 p.m.

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