Saturday, November 19
Houston, TX
5 p.m.
Rice University
-32,01 CUSA
96
vs
88
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Western Michigan
2-3,0-0MAC
1
2
F
Western Mich.
41
47
88
Rice
41
55
96
Photo by: Maria Lysaker
Evee Closes Out Broncos
11/19/2022 8:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Rice 96, Western Michigan 88
HOUSTON — Travis Evee sparked 17-7 run by Rice in the final three minutes, scoring 12 points, grabbing three rebounds and a steal as the Owls outlasted Western Michigan 96-88 in the second round of the Owl Invitational at Tudor Fieldhouse in front of a raucous crowd of 1,141 on Saturday night.
The Story
WMU took a 35-28 lead with 3:49 left in the first half before the Rice closed on a 13-6 spurt, tying the game on a buzzer-beating three by Quincy Olivari. The Owls took a brief lead in the early stages of the second half before the Broncos out-scored Rice 13-2 to take a 58-51 lead with 14:06 to go. Down 81-79 with 3:07 left.Olivari kickstarted the winning run with a three-pointer. Evee converted two free throws after a steal and then three more after he was fouled from outside the arc. Jake Lieppert grabbed an Olivari miss from three and then after a timeout, Evee drained a three to put the Owls up by seven. He hit four more free throws after a pair of rebounds to push the margin to nine and Olivari iced the game with a final pair of shots from the line.
What Head Coach Scott Pera Had to Say
"It was a tale of the end of two halves, right? We were down seven (before halftime) and Travis just made some tremendous plays and really sparked us not only to tie the game up, but sparked us emotionally. It got our guys really, really energized and carried that into half time and then we came out in the second half. Lamar Norman is an outstanding player. He had 36 last night, I believe he averages over 22 a game. He got hot, we withstood that and then Travis and Q really carried us down the stretch with big shots. (I'm) really, really proud of our guys and really happy for the three seniors as we continue to grow and also really happy and proud of the atmosphere in Tudor Fieldhouse house tonight. That was awesome on a Saturday night to have that kind of crowd and that kind of excitement. Our kids deserve it and I hope that continues"
.
The Stats
WMU out-shot Rice 56.7% to 53.2% and outrebounded the Owls 38-24, but Rice outscored Western 25-2 off 16 Broncos turnovers.
Notes
• This was the first meeting between the schools
• G Travis Evee's topped 30 points for the second time in his career and the first since he scored a career-high 36 vs. UTSA on 1/1/21. He scored 20 of his 31 points in the final 2:35 of each half.
• Evee now has 176 three-pointers at Rice, moving him into a tie for fifth with Adam Peakes (1991-95) on Rice's all-time list.
• G Quincy Olivari scored a season-high 20 points, his highest total since he scored 27 vs. Houston Baptist on 12/11/21.
• F Max Fiedler scored a season-high 16 points and has 25 in the first two games of the Invitational after scoring 14 in the first three games of the season.
Next Up
Rice will close out play in the Owl Invitational on Monday night by hosting Houston Christian at 7 p.m. The Huskies hosted Georgia Southern on Saturday night.
The Story
WMU took a 35-28 lead with 3:49 left in the first half before the Rice closed on a 13-6 spurt, tying the game on a buzzer-beating three by Quincy Olivari. The Owls took a brief lead in the early stages of the second half before the Broncos out-scored Rice 13-2 to take a 58-51 lead with 14:06 to go. Down 81-79 with 3:07 left.Olivari kickstarted the winning run with a three-pointer. Evee converted two free throws after a steal and then three more after he was fouled from outside the arc. Jake Lieppert grabbed an Olivari miss from three and then after a timeout, Evee drained a three to put the Owls up by seven. He hit four more free throws after a pair of rebounds to push the margin to nine and Olivari iced the game with a final pair of shots from the line.
What Head Coach Scott Pera Had to Say
"It was a tale of the end of two halves, right? We were down seven (before halftime) and Travis just made some tremendous plays and really sparked us not only to tie the game up, but sparked us emotionally. It got our guys really, really energized and carried that into half time and then we came out in the second half. Lamar Norman is an outstanding player. He had 36 last night, I believe he averages over 22 a game. He got hot, we withstood that and then Travis and Q really carried us down the stretch with big shots. (I'm) really, really proud of our guys and really happy for the three seniors as we continue to grow and also really happy and proud of the atmosphere in Tudor Fieldhouse house tonight. That was awesome on a Saturday night to have that kind of crowd and that kind of excitement. Our kids deserve it and I hope that continues"
.
The Stats
WMU out-shot Rice 56.7% to 53.2% and outrebounded the Owls 38-24, but Rice outscored Western 25-2 off 16 Broncos turnovers.
Notes
• This was the first meeting between the schools
• G Travis Evee's topped 30 points for the second time in his career and the first since he scored a career-high 36 vs. UTSA on 1/1/21. He scored 20 of his 31 points in the final 2:35 of each half.
• Evee now has 176 three-pointers at Rice, moving him into a tie for fifth with Adam Peakes (1991-95) on Rice's all-time list.
• G Quincy Olivari scored a season-high 20 points, his highest total since he scored 27 vs. Houston Baptist on 12/11/21.
• F Max Fiedler scored a season-high 16 points and has 25 in the first two games of the Invitational after scoring 14 in the first three games of the season.
Next Up
Rice will close out play in the Owl Invitational on Monday night by hosting Houston Christian at 7 p.m. The Huskies hosted Georgia Southern on Saturday night.
Team Stats
WMU
Rice
FG%
.567
.532
3FG%
.409
.444
FT%
.786
.720
RB
38
24
TO
16
6
STL
3
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
31
FGM
9
3FGM
3
FTM
10
Pts
20
FGM
6
3FGM
5
FTM
3
Pts
16
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
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/ Men's Basketball
G
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