Rice University
-315, 05 CUSA
Houston
-143, 30 CUSA
Owls Fall in Crosstown Contest, 69-60
1/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2008
HOUSTON -- Despite Paulius Packevicius career, 20-rebound night and eighth double-double of the year, Rice hit a four-minute scoreless stretch early in the second half and Houston was able to take the lead for good en route to a 69-60 victory over the Owls in Reliant Arena Wednesday.
Rice had a four-point, 43-39 lead with 15:40 to play on a Packevicius layup before the Cougars scored 11 of the next 12 points. During the Owls' scoring drought, Houston tied the game for the 10th time, 44-44, on a layup by DaShaun Williams and went on to stretch the lead to 50-44.
With the win, Houston improved to 14-3 and 3-0 in Conference USA play. Rice is now 3-15 and 0-5.
Houston's Robert McKiver, who entered the game averaging 20 points, finished with a game-high 18. He was 4-of-16 from the field but also sank 7-of-8 free throws.
After Houston extended its lead to six, 50-44, Lawrence Ghoram scored for the Owls inside and later made one of two free throws to cut the advantage back down to three, 50-47.
After Ghoram's free throw at the 9:02 mark, the two teams combined to miss their next 11 shots from the field before a McKiver trey with 6:02 left. After Ghoram's free throw, Rice did not score again until Rodney Foster made a pair of free throws with 3:46 to play.
After Foster's pair at the line, Houston stretched out the lead as Marcus Cousin was fouled while scoring on a reverse layup. He'd make the ensuing free throw and the Cougars' lead was 58-51 with 3:33 to play.
Packevicius would rebound a Ghoram shot blocked by Cousin and drive for a layup that cut the lead back down to five, 58-53, and the Owls had an opportunity to slice into the Cougar lead further. After Packevicius' rebounded a missed three-point attempt by Kelvin Lewis, Patrick Britton would force a three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock wound down and Ghoram was called for a foul trying to get through a block out by Smith.
Smith would make two free throws at the other end and stretch the lead back to seven, 60-53 with 2:24 to play.
Houston would make nine of its last 12 free throws and shot 80 percent from the line for the night (20-of-25).
Rice outrebounded the Cougars 50-42 and shot 35 percent from the field, compared to Houston's 32.8 percent shooting clip. Houston put up 29 three-point attempts, making five (17 percent).
In addition to Packevicus' 16-point, 20-rebound night, Britton and Foster both finished with 14 and Ghoram had 10 points for Rice.
The Owls are back on the road Saturday, traveling to Southern Miss. The next home game for Rice is Feb. 2nd when the Owls play host to Tulane at the Merrell Center in Katy. Houston plays host to Marshall on Saturday and has No. 1 Memphis at home next Wednesday.
