Rice University
3-14,0-4
Tulane
12-6,2-2
Owls Edged By Green Wave, 61-56
1/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 19, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - Tulane's Winston Stith broke open a 48-48 tie with a pair of steals and fastbreak dunks as the Green Wave survived a second-half Rice comeback to post a 61-56 win Saturday in Fogelman Arena.
Tulane improved to 12-6 and 2-2 in Conference USA play. Rice remained winless in league play, dropping to 3-14 overall and 0-4 in C-USA.
Rice trailed 36-24 at halftime but opened the second period by scoring the half's first seven points and opened the stanza with a 15-2 run to take the lead.
The Owls' defense did not allow a Tulane field goal in the second period until the 7:55 mark of the half when Johnny Mayhane scored on a jumper, allowing the Wave to regain a 47-46 lead.
Tulane missed its first six shots of the second half and turned the ball over eight times before finally scoring from the field. The only saving grace for the Green Wave came at the free throw line. The team was 15-of-20 from the line in the second half led by senior forward David Gomez. Gomez was 10-for-12 from the line and finished with a game-high 17 points.
After Mayhane's jumper, Gomez added a 1-for-2 trip at the line but Lawrence Ghoram answered at the other end of the floor for a pair at the line, tying the game at 48-48 with 6:11 to play.
Tulane missed a couple shots and had a turnover after Ghoram's free throws but Rice could not answer. Stith would steal a Bryan Beasley pass and slammed home a dunk to give the Wave the lead. Beasley made a pair of free throws to tie the game before Gomez scored and Stith stole the ball again for dunk to extend Tulane's lead to 54-50 with 3:51 to play.
Paulius Packevicius would make the second of two free throw attempts before Matt Wheaton grabbed a rebound of a Stith missed dunk and scored on a putback to extend the Wave's lead to 56-51. Rice would never get any closer.
The Owls were led by Ghoram's 16-point effort. The Zachary, La., native had a large contingent of family and friends as did freshman center Scott Saunders, a New Orleans' native. Rodney Foster came back from a knee injury which had sidelined him the last two games to score 13 points.
Rice returns to action Wednesday when the Owls play host to Houston at Reliant Arena.
