Rice University
-820, 113 CUSA
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#25 UTEP
-225, 131 CUSA
Rice Falls To UTEP 78-64
2/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2010
EL PASO - Jeremy Williams hit six-of-seven treys and scored 20 points as No. 25 UTEP defeated Rice, 78-64, in Conference USA play before a sellout crowd in the Don Haskins Center Saturday.
Williams along with Randy Culpepper drained a pair of treys early to put the Miners out in front 8-2.
Sparked by the energy of freshman Chris Eversley, the Owls utilized an 11-0 run to take its only lead of the game, 18-15. Eversley established a new career scoring high with just his second bucket of the game which came during the run. He went on to score 10 points.
UTEP would regain the lead quickly after the Owls went up by three. Williams had back-to-back treys on two UTEP possessions. The second answered a Lawrence Ghoram trey and put the Miners in front 28-21. A Rice turnover led to a Myron Strong dunk to extend the lead.
Williams hit a last-second three to put UTEP up 45-34 at halftime.
Rice would not cut the Miners' advantage to single figures in the second half.
The Miners were leading 62-48 with 12:02 left when they went on an 11-0 run to lead 73-48 and put the game away for sure.
Culpepper added 18 points for the Miners.
UTEP shot 55 percent from the field and connected on 12-of-25 three-pointers during the game.
Arsalan Kazemi scored 12 points and had seven rebounds to lead Rice. Ghoram added 11 points while Suleiman Braimoh scored 10.
Rice is now 8-20 and 1-13 in Conference USA. The Owls travel across town Wednesday to take on Houston before playing host to UCF in the regular-season finale on Saturday.
With its 12th straight win, UTEP improved to 22-5 and 13-1 in C-USA. The Miners, who secured the Conference USA's regular-season title, close out the season playing at Marshall on Wednesday before hosting UAB Saturday.
