Friday, March 5
Houston, TX
2 p.m.
Rice University
-1312,610 CUSA
80
vs
77
Our Lady of the Lake
1-9
1
2
F
Our Lady of the Lake
32
45
77
Rice
47
33
80
Photo by: Maria Lysaker
Rice Defeats Our Lady of the Lake to Close Regular Season
3/5/2021 5:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HOUSTON — All 10 players scored as Rice defeated Our Lady of the Lake, 80-77, to close the regular season Friday afternoon at Tudor Fieldhouse.
The Story
Rice jumper out to a 6-2 lead in the first two and a half minutes. Ethan White converted a three-point play, but a layup from Cameron Sheffield followed by three free throws by Travis Evee gave Rice a six-point lead. After trading baskets, Quincy Olivari hit a three and Havsa drove in for a layup to push Rice's lead to 18-9, eight minutes into the game. The teams went back-and-fort hover the next four and a half minutes. With the Owls leading 29-21, Max Fiedler converted a three-point play as they went on an 11-2 run to take their largest lead of the game, 41-23 with 3:54 to play. OLLU was able to cut the deficit to 13 before the half, but an alley-oop from Riley Abercrombie to Payton Moore sent Rice into the break with a 42-37 lead.
Rice missed its first six shots of the second half at the Saints opened on an 8-1 run to in the first 2:30 before Sheffield finally got a three to fall, which sent Rice on 10-2 run to extend its lead to 58-42 seven minutes in. However, over the next four minutes, Rice missed six shots and turned the ball over four times, as OLLU went on a 13-0 to pull within 58-55. But Olivari took over, hitting three three-pointers in a personal 12-0 run as Rice pushed its lead to 70-61 with 6:09 to play. The Saints, however, wouldn't go away. After trading baskets, they went on a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to 76-75 with 1:05 remaining. But Olivari and Evee each hit a pair of free throws, and Sheffield stepped in front of a Darin Minnifield pass in the final seconds to seal the victory.
The Stats
Rice was held to just 37.8% (28-of-74) from the field and 22.9% (8-of-35) from three but connected on 80.0% (16-of-20) from the free throw line. Our Lady of the Lake connected on 41.3% (31-of-75) from the floor and 39.1% (9-of-23) from three. Rice outrebounded the Saints, 53-to-40.
What Scott Pera Had to Say
"In my opinion, we were lucky to win. Thank goodness Travis (Evee) and Quincy (Olivari) made those one-and-ones or the outcome may have been different. A lot of credit goes to Our Lady of the Lake. They came here to win the game. They played to win the game. I thought they were the more energized team. Fortunately, we got a couple of stops and we hit four big free throws. We didn't play well before halftime either, but we were up 15 (points). I thought if we could find our groove a little bit, we could get it to 25 and make it a little easier. Hopefully, this will serve us well come conference tournament time. Our guys had to handle the end of the game, had to handle pressure (and) had to handle free throws. Maybe that will be better than winning this game by 25 or 30. Time will tell."
Notes
• Rice improved to 13-12 on the year.
• The Owls improved to 2-0 against Our Lady of the Lake.
• Quincy Olivari led the Owls with a game-high 25 points while grabbing five rebounds.
• With four three-pointers, Olivari now has 79 on the year, passing Morris Almond (2006-07), Tommy McGhee (1995-96) and Trey Murphy III (2019-20) for 10th-place on the Rice single-season list.
• Travis Evee scored 12 points and was a career-best seven-of-seven from the free throw line.
• Chris Mullins scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.
• Max Fiedler scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, his 11th double-digit rebound game of the year.
• Cameron Sheffield pulled down a career-high nine rebounds.
Next Up
Rice will travel to Frisco, Texas for the 2021 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Tournament, Mar. 9-13. Game date and time are to be announced.
The Story
Rice jumper out to a 6-2 lead in the first two and a half minutes. Ethan White converted a three-point play, but a layup from Cameron Sheffield followed by three free throws by Travis Evee gave Rice a six-point lead. After trading baskets, Quincy Olivari hit a three and Havsa drove in for a layup to push Rice's lead to 18-9, eight minutes into the game. The teams went back-and-fort hover the next four and a half minutes. With the Owls leading 29-21, Max Fiedler converted a three-point play as they went on an 11-2 run to take their largest lead of the game, 41-23 with 3:54 to play. OLLU was able to cut the deficit to 13 before the half, but an alley-oop from Riley Abercrombie to Payton Moore sent Rice into the break with a 42-37 lead.
Rice missed its first six shots of the second half at the Saints opened on an 8-1 run to in the first 2:30 before Sheffield finally got a three to fall, which sent Rice on 10-2 run to extend its lead to 58-42 seven minutes in. However, over the next four minutes, Rice missed six shots and turned the ball over four times, as OLLU went on a 13-0 to pull within 58-55. But Olivari took over, hitting three three-pointers in a personal 12-0 run as Rice pushed its lead to 70-61 with 6:09 to play. The Saints, however, wouldn't go away. After trading baskets, they went on a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to 76-75 with 1:05 remaining. But Olivari and Evee each hit a pair of free throws, and Sheffield stepped in front of a Darin Minnifield pass in the final seconds to seal the victory.
The Stats
Rice was held to just 37.8% (28-of-74) from the field and 22.9% (8-of-35) from three but connected on 80.0% (16-of-20) from the free throw line. Our Lady of the Lake connected on 41.3% (31-of-75) from the floor and 39.1% (9-of-23) from three. Rice outrebounded the Saints, 53-to-40.
What Scott Pera Had to Say
"In my opinion, we were lucky to win. Thank goodness Travis (Evee) and Quincy (Olivari) made those one-and-ones or the outcome may have been different. A lot of credit goes to Our Lady of the Lake. They came here to win the game. They played to win the game. I thought they were the more energized team. Fortunately, we got a couple of stops and we hit four big free throws. We didn't play well before halftime either, but we were up 15 (points). I thought if we could find our groove a little bit, we could get it to 25 and make it a little easier. Hopefully, this will serve us well come conference tournament time. Our guys had to handle the end of the game, had to handle pressure (and) had to handle free throws. Maybe that will be better than winning this game by 25 or 30. Time will tell."
Notes
• Rice improved to 13-12 on the year.
• The Owls improved to 2-0 against Our Lady of the Lake.
• Quincy Olivari led the Owls with a game-high 25 points while grabbing five rebounds.
• With four three-pointers, Olivari now has 79 on the year, passing Morris Almond (2006-07), Tommy McGhee (1995-96) and Trey Murphy III (2019-20) for 10th-place on the Rice single-season list.
• Travis Evee scored 12 points and was a career-best seven-of-seven from the free throw line.
• Chris Mullins scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.
• Max Fiedler scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, his 11th double-digit rebound game of the year.
• Cameron Sheffield pulled down a career-high nine rebounds.
Next Up
Rice will travel to Frisco, Texas for the 2021 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Tournament, Mar. 9-13. Game date and time are to be announced.
Team Stats
OLLU
RICE
FG%
.413
.378
3FG%
.391
.229
FT%
.857
.800
RB
40
53
TO
13
17
STL
11
6
Game Leaders
Pts
25
FGM
9
3FGM
4
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
7
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
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