Rice University
3-2
North Texas
3-1
Owls Edged by UNT, 68-65
11/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2010
Final Stats
Rice vs. North Texas Game Book 
DENTON, Texas - North Texas used a full-court press in the final minutes and scored 11 of the game's final 15 points and in a contest typical of the series, beat Rice 68-65 Tuesday at The Super Pit.
Heading into Tuesday's contest, the last four meetings of the series had each been decided by two points.
Tristan Thompson scored a game-high 26 points in the win. He made 7-of-8 free throws in the second half, including five in the final four minutes.
Kedrick Hogans scored inside on a pass from Thompson to give UNT a 64-61 lead with 32 seconds to play and Shannon Shorter answered a pair of drives by Rice's Tamir Jackson with two sets of free throws in the final 18 seconds to help the Mean Green to the win.
North Texas improved to 3-1 while Rice is now 3-2. The Owls have lost two road games by a total of three points.
Rice had a 31-25 lead at halftime.
Tamir Jackson put the Owls in front in the opening half when he converted a three-point play that gave Rice a 19-17 lead with 8:47 to play in the period.
The Owls closed out the period by scoring six of the final eight points before intermission. Suleiman Braimoh popped a short jumper to give Rice a 29-25 lead with just under two minutes left in the half. He later grabbed an offensive rebound, rolling in another basket to give the Owls' a six-point lead at the break.
Lucas Kuipers extended the Owls' halftime lead to with a three-pointer in the opening minute of the second period before Thompson put the Mean Green on his back and scored 10 consecutive points for UNT. Thompson's efforts were part of a 12-0 Mean Green run that gave UNT a 40-36 lead.
Jackson scored 15 points to lead Rice. Kuipers scored 13 points and had six rebounds for the Owls. Arsalan Kazemi recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 16 rebounds.
The Owls are back on the road Saturday playing at Texas. With the overlap of football and basketball, the Texas game will be broadcast locally in Houston on 1560 The Game. Tip-off for Saturday's contest is 3 p.m.
