Rice University
6-9, 0-2
UCF
9-6, 1-0
Owls Drop 77-58 Decision at UCF
1/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2010
Rice vs. UCF Game Book in PDF Format 
ORLANDO - UCF forward Keith Clanton scored 17 points while point guard A.J. Rompza chipped in 13 and had five steals as the Knights beat Rice 77-58 in Conference USA play here Saturday.
Clanton was 7-for-9 from the field, doubling his career high for three-pointers with two in the victory. As a team, UCF shot 53 percent from the field while holding the Owls under 40 percent for the game.
Tamir Jackson scored a team-high 17 points for Rice while Trey Stanton finished with 14.
The game was the Conference USA opener for UCF while the Owls fell to 0-2 in league play.
Rice led by as many as nine points in the first half. Connor Frizzelle and Lawrence Ghoram knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to give the Owls a 19-10 lead with 9:34 to play.
Up by nine, the Owls looked like they would have an opportunity to add to the margin with a defensive stop. UCF's Taylor Young had to put up a three-pointer as the shot clock wound down. Arsalan Kazemi snared the rebound of the shot which did not draw iron but stumbled to turn the ball over.
After the turnover, Marcus Jordan would make a pair of free throws to slice into the lead and Rompza stole the inbounds, scoring from the paint and the Knights quickly cut the lead to five, 19-14.
After a Stanton jumper, the Owls failed to score on five straight possessions before Rompza giving UCF the lead with a three-pointer to put the Knights in front 23-21 with 4:46 to play. B.J. Scott added a three-pointer and after Clanton scored inside, another Rompza steal led to a Clanton trey to extend the Knights' lead to 31-21.
A three-pointer by Stanton in the final minute of the half would cut UCF's lead to 33-24 at the break.
The Owls traveled to Orlando without freshman guard A.J. Holland who traveled to South Carolina to attend funeral services for his grandfather.
Rice, 6-9, will continue to look for its first road win on Wednesday traveling to Tulane before returning home to host to Memphis next Saturday. UCF, now 9-6, plays host to Marshall on Wednesday.
