Southern Miss
Rice
Eagles Fall At Rice 70-55
2/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2007
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HOUSTON - Morris Almond scored a game-high 35 points to lead Rice to a 70-55 Conference USA victory over Southern Miss here Wednesday night at Autry Court.
The Golden Eagles (14-8 overall, 4-5 C-USA) lost for the second straight game, while the Owls (12-10, 6-3) won their fifth straight league home game.
Freshmen Jeremy Wise and Sai'Quon Stone each paced Southern Miss with 17 points apiece.
After falling behind eight points at the half, the Golden Eagles cut the gap to two at 38-36 with 14:20 remaining, as Stone scored the first six points of the second half for the Golden Eagles while Wise and Courtney Beasley added four each during the opening
Almond, though, answered with a three-point play and Lawrence Ghoram added a bucket to push the score back to 43-36. Wise hit two free throws to close the margin to five, but that was as close as the visitors got the remainder of the contest.
Southern Miss did cut the gap to under double digits late in the contest, but Almond drilled a long-range 3-pointer with 2:59 left, finishing 14-of-21 from the floor, 4-of-4 from 3-point range and 3-for-3 from the line, to put an exclamation mark on the victory for the Owls
Behind 15 first-half points from Almond and 59 percent shooting (13-of-22), the Owls led by as many as 12 points in the opening period before taking a 30-22 lead into intermission.
The Owls also converted 10 Southern Miss turnovers in the opening half into 15 points.
The Golden Eagles return to action, Saturday, when they entertain Tulsa at Green Coliseum. Game time is 4 p.m.
RICE 70, SOUTHERN MISS 55 SOUTHERN MISS (14-8, 4-5) Wise, Jeremy 6-15 4-4 17; Stone, Sai'Quon 5-8 7-9 17; Craft, Craig 3-6 0-0 6; Beasley, Courtney 3-8 0-0 6; Dotson, Demar 2-4 0-0 4; Zuffa, Maros 1-4 0-0 3; Stephens, Andre 1-1 0-0 2; Hill, Jarvis 0-0 0-0 0; Bain, Gjio 0-1 0-0 0; Green, Dewayne 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 21-50 11-13 55. RICE (12-10, 6-3) ALMOND, Morris 14-21 3-3 35; WILLIAMS, Lorenzo 4-6 2-2 11; PFLIEGER, Cory 3-5 0-0 8; PACKEVICIUS, Paulius 3-4 0-0 6; PERKA, Aleks 2-3 0-0 4; BELTON, Charles 1-1 0-0 2; HAGAN, Chris 0-0 2-2 2; GHORAM, Lawrence 1-1 0-0 2; BRITTON, Patrick 0-4 0-0 0; FOSTER, Rodney 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 28-48 7-7 70.
Southern Miss................. 22 33 - 55
Rice.......................... 30 40 - 70
3-point goals--Southern Miss 2-12 (Wise, Jeremy 1-5; Zuffa, Maros 1-3; Craft, Craig 0-2; Beasley, Courtney 0-1; Green, Dewayne 0-1), Rice 7-12 (ALMOND, Morris 4-4; PFLIEGER, Cory 2-3; WILLIAMS, Lorenzo 1-2; FOSTER, Rodney 0-3). Fouled out--Southern Miss-None, Rice-None. Rebounds--Southern Miss 25 (Green, Dewayne 6), Rice 26 (PACKEVICIUS, Paulius 6). Assists--Southern Miss 12 (Wise, Jeremy 6), Rice 16 (WILLIAMS, Lorenzo 4; HAGAN, Chris 4). Total fouls--Southern Miss 16, Rice 16. Technical fouls--Southern Miss-None, Rice-None. A-1305
