Rice University Athletics
Rice Travels to Lamar Saturday
12/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2007
After a two-week break to focus on finals, Rice returns to action Saturday as the Owls travel to Lamar. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. in the Montagne Center.
Rice, 2-6, will be looking for a sweep of Southland Conference opponents as the Owls' last victory was an 88-81 decision at Texas State back on Dec. 5.
Lamar is 3-6 but the Cardinals will be looking for their first Division I win on Saturday. The Cards' three victories (against LeTourneau, St. Gregory's and Louisiana College) were decided by an average of 42 points. Lamar is coming off an 88-66 loss at BYU. While the Cardinals are looking for their first D1 win, they have been competitive. Among the team's losses was a 75-71 decision at home against Wyoming and a 65-63 loss at Northern Illinois.
Lamar is led by junior college transfer Kenny Dawkins who was a Second-Team NJCAA All-America selection last year at Arizona Western College. Dawkins has started all nine of Lamar's games and leads the team with a 15.3 scoring average as well as 35 assists (3.9 per contest). He is also the team's top three-point shooter having knocked down 21-of-47 three-point attempts.
Justin Nabors, a teammate of Dawkins at Holly Springs High School in Mississippi, also joined the Lamar program this year after two seasons at Northwest Mississippi Community College. He is averaging 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds. Senior forward Lamar Sanders, a returning second-team All-Southland Conference pick, is averaging 10.1 points and a team-leading 6.8 rebounds.
In the Owls' last win, senior forward Patrick Britton scored a career-high 24 points at Texas State. Teammate Paulius Packevicius had a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with 13 points in the Texas State game.
For the year, Britton is averaging 11.1 points while Packevicius is averaging 10.4 points and 9.5 rebounds.
Dating back to the mid-1950s, Rice holds a 16-6 lead in its series with Lamar. The Owls have won the last six meetings including two games played in Beaumont. Rice has scored 80+ points in the last three games played in the series including last year's 83-71 win at Autry Court.
Saturday's game will be broadcast by ESPN 97.5.
