Owls handle Huskies, stay perfect at 4-0
Rice and Houston Baptist took different approaches in constructing the early stages of their nonconference basketball schedules.
Rice loaded up with smaller programs. HBU went right after the bigname schools. That played a role in theOwls coming in at 3-0 and the Huskies 0-3 for their crosstown meeting Saturday night at HBU’s Sharp Gym.
It may still be hard to gauge Rice at this point, but the Owls remain unbeaten following a 86-64 road win against the Huskies.
“Our defensive intensity in the first halfwas tremendous and we made a good run that got us going,” said Rice coach Scott Pera, whose team never trailed HBU. “Our team takes pride in their defense and challenges every shot.”
A big difference was the play of guard Quincy Olivari, who led theOwls with 27 points, making 7- of-12 3pointers.
Rice (4-0) raced out on a 20-2 first-half run that built a 26-point lead at one point en route to a 49-24 halftime advantage.
“They came out and took it to us early and put us in a position where we were on our heels,” Huskies coach Ron Cottrell said.
HBU (0-4), which is using out-of-conference games as preparation for the Southland Conference schedule, received a teamhigh 15 points from Za-Ontay Boothman.
Rice was successful on 14- of-38 3-pointers. HBU hit just 5- of-20 from long range. In the first half, the Owls were good on 7- of-21 3s.
“We’re going to shoot 3s. That’s how we play,” Pera said. “We’ll live with some mistakes. But the right guys are shooting them and we’re going to continue to do that.”
Cavit Ege Havsa added 11 points for Rice, which shot 31-of-65 from the field. Max Fiedler, Travis Evee and Payton Moore scored 10 points apiece for the Owls.
Zach Iyeyemi contributed 12 points and six rebounds for HBU. The Huskies’ Philip McKenzie totaled 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal.
HBU, which outscored Rice 40-37 in the second half, outrebounded the Owls 36-30. The two teams meet again Dec. 15 at Rice’s Tudor Fieldhouse.
After the Huskies pulled within eight — 27-19 on a Boothman layup around the nine-minute mark— the Owls produced the 20-2 run. It was Fiedler’s dunk that gave Rice its largest first-half lead at 26.
HBU managed to fight back on more than one occasion, getting within 62-47 with less than eight minutes left before Rice pulled away.
Rice entered with lopsided wins over the SLC’s Incarnate Word (68-53), NAIA’s Our Lady of the Lake (103-64) and NCAA Division III’s LeTourneau (9474).
Facing more formidable opponents, HBUhad lost to TCU (69-45), Arizona State (100-77) and SMU (102-75).
Rice improved to 10-3 in the all-time series, winning the past three meetings. Last year, Rice defeated HBU 96-84 in Tudor Fieldhouse.
Rice will take a week off before playing its second straight road game inHouston when it faces the University ofHouston next Saturday at Fertitta Center.