Rice Basketball became the second victim of a surging East Texas A&M squad, falling at home to the Lions by a one-point margin.
East Texas A&M scored one of the marquee upsets during the first week of the season on Tuesday when they knocked off Oklahoma in Norman. That effectively ended any chance they might have had at sneaking up on Rice basketball when they arrived at Tudor Fieldhouse on Thursday night.
Eternity Eguagie opened the scoring, but even armed with the knowledge that East Texas A&M could reel off extended scoring runs, the Owls quickly experienced the Lions’ aggressiveness firsthand, falling behind by five in the opening minutes.
A series of three-pointers helped Rice regain the lead and, eventually, set up a run of their own. Rice scored 11 straight midway through the first half, but did not get to enjoy their advantage for very long before East Texas A&M answered with a 13-0 run minutes later. Jaxson Thompson broke the slide but Rice entered the break trailing by five.
More: Rice Basketball Season Preview
East Texas A&M maintained a modest lead through the early goings of the second half, with each team trading buckets until Rice finally strung together multiple baskets midway through the period. That 7-0 run turned an eight-point deficit into a one-point game on a fantastic transition score from Jacob Dar, but before long, the Lions were ahead by eight as Rice struggled to find their shot from the floor.
Just when it looked as if Rice basketball might run out of time, Carmelo Adkins drained a series of three triples in the span of 90 seconds to claw back within one again and give Rice a chance. Rice would have three shots in the final 14 seconds to pull ahead, but none fell as the Owls fell to 1-1 on the season with the loss.
Final Box | East Texas A&M 72, Rice 71
What They’re Saying
“The story of the game, obviously, was the 25 offensive rebounds. But it’s not just the rebounds themselves. I wouldn’t suspect that we would play anyone that would get 25 offensive rebounds. But to get 25 offensive rebounds, it speaks to their mindset of toughness, physicality, and will, and I think their team wanted it more. That statistic is evidence of that. There’s a mentality and confidence that they played with that we didn’t meet. We still had the wherewithal to position ourselves, and we could have stolen it at the end. But that’s what we would have done; stolen that one.” – Rice basketball head coach Rob Lanier
Key takeaway | Keep an Eye on 2
Rice basketball was in danger of falling out of this game on multiple occasions on Thursday night and found a way to stay alive. Several players had their moments and generated those extra chances, but it was telling that the Owls put the ball in the hands of true freshman Jaxson Thompson when the clock ticked under a minute and there was no margin left to waste.
It was Thompson who delivered a three-point play to turn a four-point game into a one-point contest in the final minute. It was Thompson who took the shot with under 13 minutes to play and Thompson who was trusted with the ball on the final attempt. In the storybooks, the last one goes in, he wins the game for Rice and the legend is born, but the negative outcome this time doesn’t change the process or the clear trust he’s earned already from his teammates and this coaching staff.
More: Homecoming — Rice Basketball Welcomes Back Jacob Dar
Thompson led the team with 14 points, made 6-of-7 free throws (the rest of the roster was 6-of-13) and contributed in almost every statistical category, tallying three boards, two assists, a block and a steal.
The shots clutch shots will eventually fall, but it doesn’t take a perfect night from a first-year player to prove he belongs. His effort was tremendous and the ceiling of what he could be in this program is sky-high.