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CBI Tournament: Ohio stuns Rice Basketball at the buzzer

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Leading with five seconds on the clock, Rice Basketball watched their CBI Tournament stint come to an end on a buzzer-beating shot by Ohio.

Rice basketball showed up roughly 10 minutes late for the 6:30 p.m. tipoff of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) Tournament. The Owls were on the court at the same time as their opponent, the Ohio Bobcats, but it took the Owls a while to get going and the Bobcats were right on time.

Ohio scored the first three baskets of the game and burst out to a 13-point lead before the game clock hit 10:00 in the first half. Rice was turning the ball over, they were shooting 20 percent from the field. Nothing was going right as they veered dangerously close to hitting the beach early.

Head coach Scott Pera saw it the same way. When asked what happened at that pivotal moment in the game, Pera shot straight: “The Rice basketball team showed up after 17-4 because I don’t know what was going on to start it,” he said. “We took a deep breath. We recovered and made it a game the rest of the way.”

More: Rice Football Spring Practice Notebook No. 1: Introductions

Trailing by 13, Rice roared back, outscoring Ohio 18-5 over the next six minutes and change to tie the game back up at 24-24. Rather than call it a season, Rice responded with an emphatic “Not Done Yet.” The Owls would go into halftime trailing by one, very much so back in the game.

The second half was much closer. Although Ohio led for the vast majority of the remainder of the contest, their advantage seemed to hang near six or seven points for much of the half. Their latest lead of the half, a 10-point margin that pushed the Owls into do-or-die mode, came with 5:24 to play. Once more, Rice fought back.

Carl Pierre was electric when in mattered most. He scored nine points in the final four minutes include the jumper with five seconds on the clock that looked like it might send Rice basketball through to the second round.

But it wasn’t to be. For as furious as the Owls’ rally had been, things ended one defensive stand shy of victory.  Ohio grabbed the ball and dashed down the court, hitting a layup at the buzzer to sink the Owls’ further postseason dreams.

Player Spotlight | Travis Evee

As beat up and under-manned as Rice basketball was down the stretch, they could ill afford to get negligible production from their core players. That’s part of what made Trave Evee’s cold snap over the Owls’ last three games so devasting. He averaged 6.0 points per game in those three contests, shooting 14 percent from the field.

So when Rice fell behind early, it was now or never for Evee. He hit his first three of the game with 5:37 to play in the first half, then spurred an 8-0 Rice run with a fastbreak layup shortly after. He would finish with 12 points, second-most on the team, also adding four rebounds, four assists and a setal.

Stat Corner | 94 percent

Green Light U, as Rice basketball dubbed themselves early this season, was founded on the Owls’ ability to shoot, and to shoot well. Entering the postseason, Rice basketball had won 15 of 16 games when Rice finished with a better field goal percentage than their opponents. The opposite was also true — Rice had lost 15 of 16 games in which their opponents had out-shot them.

So when Carl Pierre hit a jumper with five seconds to play and Rice was outshooting Ohio 45.9 percent to 39.1 percent, it seemed like Rice was going to pull out the win just as they’d 94 percent of the time throughout the season.

Unfortunately for him and the Owls, tonight was a night where the conventional numbers weren’t hitting as they used to. Rice shot a season-low five free throws to counteract their shooting edge.

Final Box | Ohio 65 – Rice 64

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Hot hitting continues as Rice Baseball blasts SHSU

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Rice baseball has its first winning streak of the season, taking down SHSU at Reckling Park the night following a blowout win over SFA.

Following a 19-run outburst on Tuesday night against SFA, the Rice baseball bats were quick to prove it wasn’t a one-night show. The Owls were kept off the scoreboard in the first inning against Sam Houston on Wednesday before the offense started to heat up in the second frame.

Both Rice and Sam Houston would scratch across single runs in the second before Rice took a decent lead with a three-run fourth highlighted by an RBI triple from Nathan Becker. Sam Houston would sneak back one run in the fourth and another in the fifth, but Rice starter Thomas Burbank was largely able to work around opposing base runners. He finished with 4.2 innings pitched, three runs (two earned) on nine hits and three strikeouts.

Last Time Out : Pair of slams propel Rice baseball over SFA

Burbank would be relieved by Tom Vincent who got Rice out of the fifth with the lead, then the bats went back to work. The offense exploded for five runs, turning a close 4-3 game into a one-sided 9-3 affair. Sam Houston would get two back in the seventh against Alex DeLeon but Rice regained the six-run lead in the bottom of the eighth courtesy of two out RBI singles from Johnny Hole and Pierce Gallo.

DeLeon would bounce back with two strikeouts in the eighth, ceding to closer Matthew Linskey in the ninth. Linskey slammed the door, striking out the side and clinching the 13-5 victory. It marks the first time this season Rice baseball has won back-to-back games.

What it means | Back-to-back-to-back-to-back

Turning baserunners into run has been one of the biggest challenges Rice baseball has faced this season. The Owls have finished close enough in the hit column in many of their games, but a combination of messy fielding and minimal clutch hits have turned those games into uncompetitive contests.

One need to look no further than their 10-1 defeat to Texas Tech in which the Red Raiders collected nine hits to the Owls eight or even their 15-1 loss to Texas in which Texas had 10 hits and Rice had six. Four hits shouldn’t be the difference in 14 runs, but it was more often than not early on in the season. That’s what makes this shift seem so dramatic.

In the fifth inning against SHSU, four consecutive Rice batters collected an RBI. The final two batters did so with two outs, including an RBI double from Dustin Woodcox and an RBI single from Guy Garibay. Rice seemingly couldn’t get hits with runners in scoring position for weeks. On Wednesday they collected them in droves and had 10+ hits in back-to-back games for the first time this year.

It’s not all going to change overnight, but we’ve now got a few games in a row as evidence this team can get those big hits. Next, they’ll focus on doing so consistently.

ON DECK | UAB

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Rice Baseball: Pair of grand slams highlight win over SFA

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The offense exploded and the pitching was crisp for Rice baseball as the Owls cruised to a comfortable midweek win over SFA.

Rice baseball wasted no time in their first of two midweek games this week, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning off a Jack Riedel RBI single. The Owls’ opponent, SFA, would answer with a pair off runs from a pair of extra-base hits in the second inning, but that was their only real offensive contributions of the evening against Rice starter Brandon Deskins

Deskins would go 4.0 innings, allowing just two hits and two runs while striking out seven. His command wasn’t perfect — three walks, one hit by pitch, and one wild pitch — but he didn’t have to be with how the Owls were swinging the bats behind him.

Last Time Out : Takeaways from Rice Baseball 3-0 series loss to Texas Tech

Guy Garibay gave Deskins plenty of breathing room with a Grand Slam in the bottom of the second inning. Garibay had another RBI on a single to right field in the fourth, followed by an Aaron Smigelski homer to give Rice a 9-2 advantage.

From there, Deskins would give way to Mark Perkins, who would do his part in keeping SFA at bay. Meanwhile, the offense added eight more runs in the fifth to break the game wide open, including the Owls’ second Grand Slam of the night, this time courtesy of Nathan Becker. By the time the dust settled, Rice had a runaway, 19-3 victory.

What it means | Getting right

Even though Rice baseball lost all three games against Texas Tech this past weekend, head coach Jose Cruz Jr. could sense a change in his ball club. “The last couple days have been different,” he said, referring to the two final games against the Red Raiders, both of which were well within reach following a one-sided Fright night affair.

“Everything is starting to fall into place at the right time,” Cruz Jr. continued. “Especially since conference is about start.”

Rice wouldn’t even have to wait for conference play, thumping SFA in their most decisive victory of the season. The offense was great. The pitching was great. Even the defense, which had just turned in its first error-free game of the season on Sunday, was sturdy. Everything was in sync.

One win won’t guarantee the Owls anything. There was no magic button pressed or formula concocted. But they do look different. They feel different. Perhaps something has clicked and they’ve found that missing component that will enable them to play better baseball. That makes the next few days all the more interesting with Sam Houston and UAB up next.

ON DECK | Sam Houston, UAB

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Rice Basketball bounced by North Texas in CUSA Tournament

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In a game that never felt close, Rice basketball saw its Conference USA Tournament run come to a close in a blowout loss to favorite North Texas.

“Playing with house money” is the phrase Rice basketball head coach Scott Pera used when previewing Thursday night’s game against North Texas when he met with his team following the Owls’ opening win of the Conference USA Tournament over Charlotte. He knew the odds were stacked against his team against the league’s No. 1 squad. He was right.

North Texas hit Rice hard from the jump, converting their first nine two-point shots. Whether it was Max Fiedler or Myljael Poteat inside, Rice had no answer in the paint. At the same time, Rice struggled to get into any sort of offensive rhythm against Conference USA’s best defensive squad.

“We didn’t bring our A-game and that’s what happens,” Pera said, summing up a rough two hours of basketball in one quaint refrain.

Last Time Out: Rice Basketball pounds the paint, tops Charlotte in CUSA Tourney

Trailing 14-9 in the first half, the Owls sputter became a slump.  A 14-0 North Texas run spanned part of a 10 minute, 34-second streak in which Rice didn’t hit a single field goal. They missed all eight of their shots during that time. By the time Max Fiedler finally got the Owls a bucket, the North Texas lead had ballooned to 20 points. Rice would go into halftime down by 18.

Rice wouldn’t find any relief after the break. Beat up and, as Pera put it without “a ton of juice”, things spiraled. North Texas’ first three field goals of the second half were three-pointers, giving them six triples to the Owls’ singular made three.

With the edge on the boards, in the paint and from distance, there wasn’t much Rice was able to do to fight back. North Texas would sprint through the half, closing out their third win of the season over Rice in convincing fashion.

Player Spotlight | Mylyjael Poteat

Poteat subbed in quickly once it became clear North Texas would have its way on the interior of both sides of the court. He struggled at times against the Mean Green, too, but finished with a team-high 10 points and four rebounds, missing time with an apparent injury suffered on his way to the basket. On a night filled with misses, Poteat made 4-of-5 and remains a bright spot for the future.

Stat Corner | Two

There were a myriad of stats that went against the Owls in a game that got away from them rather quickly. Perhaps the most fitting was the Owls’ hallmark measure: three-point shots. Rice made just two three-point shots, a season-low. They’d been held to three or fewer triples by just one other opponent this season, fittingly, North Texas who had held them to three apiece in each of their previous meetings.

Final Box | North Texas 58 – Rice 50

Up Next |

The Conference USA Tournament loss marks the end of all currently scheduled games for Rice basketball. As things currently stand, they’ll be in the mix for postseason action. Details of if the Owls make any field and who/when they’ll play next will be made available in the coming days.

Pera said he believes there might still be a postseason spot for this team. “Any time we can late in March in this program, that’s the goal. That’s what we’re striving to do,” he said of any potential postseason bid. “We’ll be exciting as heck to get that opportunity.”

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Malia Fisher’s big day propels Rice Women’s Basketball past Marshall

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Rice Women’s Basketball won its first Conference USA Tournament game on Wednesday, soaring past Marshall thanks to Malia Fisher’s big day.

Earlier this season, Rice women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds had talked about the importance of winning the third quarter. That need had progressed to winning the fourth quarter as the Owls struggled to close games out at the start of conference play.

On Wednesday morning in their opening game of the Conference USA Tournament, Rice won the second quarter, and they did so with such an emphatic blow it set the tone for the remainder of the contest, one in which they would go on to score 80 points, a Rice women’s Basketball Conference USA Tournament record.

The Owls took a three-point lead out of the first quarter and opened with an 8-0 run to kick off the second period. It was the Owls’ defense though, combined with a voracious desire to attack the basket, that left the most resounding mark. Marshall would make just two field goals in the second quarter, shooting a meager 11.1 percent from the field. Conversely, Rice went to the line 12 times in the frame and knocked down all 12 shots.

Last Time Out: Rice Women’s Basketball rains down threes, beats UTSA

Leading 38 to 25 at halftime, all Rice had to do was buckle down and hold the line. That’s exactly what they did. Marshall would get their deficit back within single digits on a few occasions early in the third quarter, but from the moment Maya Bokenewicz drained her second three-pointer of the day with 6:17 to play in the third, it was a runaway win for the Owls.

“We’re definitely playing our best basketball,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds remarked. “The proof is in our record. We’re clicking.”

Rice would extend their lead to as many as 18, maintaining at least a 14 point advantage for the duration of the fourth quarter. Marshall never got within striking distance and the Owls were able to coast down the stretch to their first win of the tournament.

Player Spotlight | Malia Fisher

With Ashlee Austin sidelined with foul trouble, Rice women’s basketball was going to need someone to help shoulder the load. Malia Fisher answered the call with one of the most spectacular outings of her young career. Days removed from being named to the All-Conference team, Malia Fisher put on a rebounding clinic in Frisco, TX.

Fisher ended the game with 16 rebounds, nearly tying her career-best 18-rebound game against FIU just a few short weeks ago. She also added 17 points.

“I wasn’t aware of [having a double-double] until I came out in the last couple minutes until I came out,” Fisher said. “You just go out there and play. I’m not really worried about the numbers. A win is a win.”

Coach Edmonds was elated to see Fisher’s success but stressed this was just the beginning of the freshmen’s abilities. “Her ceiling is extremely high. We’re tapping into that, but we’re not even close. The future is very, very bright for Malia,” Edmonds said. “She’s an unbelievable young lade. I’m glad she’s wearing that uniform.”

Stat Corner | Free throws and free points

Rice did a lot of things well against Marshall, but their dominance at the free throw line might have been the most impactful differentiator. The Owls hit 25-of-27 free throws (92.6 percent). Marshall attempted just 15, but made a woeful eight of those attempts (53.3 percent).

While the Herd handed away points at the stripe, Rice stockpiled them. It would have been enough to give Rice the win in a close game. As well as they played on Wednesday, it was enough to comfortably send them to the second round.

Final Box | Rice 80 – Marshall 62

Up Next | Full Schedule

With the win, Rice women’s basketball advances to the third round of the Conference USA Tournament where they’ll face Charlotte, the No. 1 seed in the East. The Owls and 49ers played a 4 OT thriller in the regular season with the 49ers coming out on top in that contest.

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