Rice University
8-20, 1-15CUSA
UCF
14-16, 6-10CUSA
Owls Stopped by UCF on Senior Day
3/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 6, 2010
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
HOUSTON - UCF point guard A.J. Rompza broke a 59-59 tie with a three-pointer from right of the key with 1:09 left to play as the Knights defeated Rice 66-59 Saturday in Tudor Fieldhouse.
The loss came despite a season-high, 19-point effort by Rice sophomore Connor Frizzelle. Arsalan Kazemi's seven steals were part of a season-high 16 by the Owls who forced 22 turnovers. But Rice continued to struggle shooting free throws, converting just 42 percent of its attempts while UCF shot 56 percent from the field.
With the win, UCF snapped a four-game losing streak and head to next week's GMC Sierra Conference USA Tournament with a 14-16 overall record, 6-10 in league play. Rice lost its seventh straight game to fall to 8-20 and 1-15.
UCF led by as many as nine points early in the second half. A 12-3 Rice run at one point in the second period gave the Owls their first lead of the game at 42-41 with 11:32 to play but Marcus Jordan answered with a three-pointer for the Knights. Rice would tie the score four times before a Kazemi steal and fastbreak dunk gave the Owls a 57-55 lead with 4:04 to play.
Another UCF three-pointer would stop the Owls' charge as Taylor Young connected from outside to beat the shot clock and put the Knights up 58-57 with 3:26 to play. Rice would later tie the score for the fifth time in the half on a Frizzelle layup with 1:46 to play before Rompza hit the game-winning trey with just over a minute to play.
The game marked Senior Day as the Owls recognized Cory Pflieger, who has missed the season after surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament, as well as Lawrence Ghoram who played in his 119th career game. Ghoram was 5-for-10 from the field and finished with 13 points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal in 32 minutes of play.
Kazemi's seven steals was one shy of the Rice school record of eight set by Rashid Smith at Houston on Dec. 3, 2003. After already setting a Rice freshman record with 260 rebounds, Kazemi now has 45 steals.
Young led UCF with 14 points while Jordan finished with 12.
Rice will play tournament host Tulsa next Wednesday in a first round game of the Conference USA Tournament Wednesday at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. Tip-off for Wednesday's game will be at 6 p.m.
