Rice University
11-12, 3-6
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UTEP
18-5, 6-2
Owls Fall to Miners, 59-53
2/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2011
Final Stats
UTEP vs. Rice Game Book 
HOUSTON - UTEP senior guard Julyan Stone scored a career-high 23 points as the Miners defeated Rice 59-53 Saturday in Tudor Fieldhouse.
UTEP improved to 18-5 and maintained its lead in Conference USA play, improving to 6-2 in the league. Rice is now 11-12 and 3-6.
Rice senior guard Cory Pflieger knocked down a three-pointer to beat the buzzer at halftime to narrow UTEP's lead to 27-26 at the break and the Owls would later tie the game at 30-30 early in the second half. UTEP's Christian Polk answered the Owls' run with a three-pointer to give the Miners a 33-30 lead with 15:22 to play.
Polk's triple sparked a 10-0 UTEP run that the Owls would not fully overcome.
Rice would use a 7-0 run at one point in the second half to pull to within a point. Twice Rice had the Miner lead to one around the eight minute mark. Stone answered a pair of Suleiman Braimoh free throws with two from the line and after a Braimoh layup, Stone again scored inside to put the score at 48-45.
In the closing minutes with Rice trailing 54-50, Connor Frizzelle knocked down two free throws and stole the ball on UTEP's next offensive possession. At the other end of the floor, Arsalan Kazemi was fouled but converted just one of two shots cutting the lead to one, 54-53 with 1:45 to play.
Stone added two more free throws at the 1:22 mark.
Rice would have a pair of offensive possessions and an opportunity to narrow the Miners' lead but had a turnover then missed two shots including a putback attempt. Jeremy Williams gave UTEP a 58-53 lead with 14 seconds to play.
Kazemi played just the first four minutes of the opening half before picking up his second foul. He did not return to the court until the start of the second half. He scored all five of his points and grabbed all 10 of his rebounds in 18 minutes of play in the second period.
Connor Frizzelle led Rice with 13 points while Pflieger came off the bench to go 3-for-6 from three-point range and score 12 points. Tamir Jackson added 11 points, had six assists and three steals for the Owls.
Stone was 7-for-9 from the field and 9-for-10 at the line. Williams added 12 points while Randy Culpepper finished with 10 points for the Miners.
Rice plays again on Saturday, Feb. 12 when the Owls travel to UAB. The Blazers are 6-3 in conference play following a 47-39 road win at Tulane on Saturday.
UTEP is also off until playing host to SMU next Saturday.
