Men's Basketball: McKrieth Leads Owls Past MTSU 67-62

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Men's Basketball: McKrieth Leads Owls Past MTSU 67-62

11/23/2004

Box Score

J.R. Harrison pulls down one of his seven rebounds.

HOUSTON ? Jason McKrieth led the way with 21 points as Rice held on for a 67-62 non-conference win over Middle Tennessee State Tuesday night at Autry Court.

Rice's three seniors, Brock Gillespie, Michael Harris, and McKrieth, made 11 straight free throws in the final five minutes, which included the team's final seven points to hold off MTSU.

McKrieth's big offensive night helped overcome poor free-throw shooting (19-31) by the Owls and foul problems which limited the playing time of Rice senior forward Michael Harris. The preseason Western Athletic Conference player of the year played only four minutes in the second half after picking up his fourth personal foul only 1:11 deep into the second half.

At that time, Rice (2-0) held a 10-point lead at 37-27, but Middle Tennessee (1-1) inched back to within two points at 40-38 on the stength of three-point field goals by Michael Cuffee, Marcus Morrison and Jonathan Loe.

Rice made only 13 of 23 frees throws in the second half, but the Owls never lost the lead. McKrieth's fall-away three-pointer at the 9:58 mark put the lead back at 10 (52-42).

Another flurry of treys from the Blue Raiders' Morrison, Cuffee and Mike Dean made it close at the end, but by that time the Owls had found their range from the line, making nine of their last 10 down the stretch.

Brock Gillespie added 13 points for the Owls, and Harris and J.R. Harrison each had 10 points. Harris led the Rice rebounding effort with eight, pacing the Owls to a 36-35 advantage on the boards.

Dean led MTSU with 20 points, followed by Cuffee with 12 and Morrison with 11.

Rice now goes on the road for a Saturday afternoon game at Louisiana-Lafayette (1:30 pm). Next Tuesday, the Owls begin a three-game homestand when they host Houston in the game for the Administaff Bayou Cup (7:05 pm).

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