Rice University
6-6
Vanderbilt
10-4
Vanderbilt Holds Off Rice Rally to Win
1/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2007
Vanderbilt jumped out to an 18 to 0 lead to start the game and then held off a second-half Rice rally to win 74-69 over the Rice Owls in front of 1,776 fans at Autry Court. Rice, now 6-6, was led by All-America Morris Almond's game-high and career-high 44 points.
The 44 points by Almond ties Kendall Rhine for the second-most points in a game in school history. Rhine scored 44 vs. Arkansas on Jan. 12, 1963. The school record is held by Doug McKendrick, when poured in 47 vs. Georgia Tech on Dec. 6, 1965. It is also Almond's third game in his career in which he has tallied 40 or more points and second time this season. Almond was 11 for 23 from the field, including 5-9 three-pointers, and 17-19 at the free throw line. He also snared 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
Almond now has 1,358 career-points to rank 10th all-time at Rice.
"Our intensity was not there, we did not do a good job of screening, we didn't do a very job of getting up and challenging the ball," said Rice head coach Willis Wilson. "When they (Vanderbilt) showed fight we didn't show fight. Now, in the second-half it was totally different. Our team doesn't understand just how important momentum is in college basketball. Because when you get it going sometimes there is very little that your opponent can do to stop it. And that was the case for Vanderbilt tonight in the first-half and that was the case for Rice in the second-half."
Vanderbilt (10-4) was led by Shan Foster's 29 points. Foster scored 26 of his 29 points in the first-half as the Commodores shot 64 percent from the field and held the Owls scoreless until Almond nailed a trey at the 11:42 mark.
The Commodores got off to an excellent start in part due to Foster scoring 12 of Vandy's first 14 points. He finished the first-half shooting 10 of 12 from the field. Meanwhile, Rice began the contest by missing its first 11 field goal attempts and shot only 30 percent in the first-half and concluded the game making only 37 percent. Rice did outscore Vanderbilt 69 to 56 (42 to 29 in the second-half) following the 18-point deficit.
An Almond three-pointer with 1:05 remaining brought Rice to within four points (67-63) but Dan Cage hit two free throws to extend the lead to 6. It was a three-point game at 72-69 following a lay-up by Almond with four ticks on the clock remaining, but Cage secured the game for Vanderbilt by making two free throws. The Commodores made 7 of 10 free throws in the final 50 seconds of the game, with Cage going 4 for 6 at the line.
