Owls Outlast Miners 73 To 67
HOUSTON (AP) — Morris Almond scored 29 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds to help lead Rice to a 73-67 victory over Texas-El Paso on Wednesday night.
Almond was 11-of-18 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. The Owls held UTEP to one field goal in the final five minutes.
Rice (10-8, 4-1 Conference USA) took the lead for good at 65-63 with 3:05 left on a basket by Almond. The Miners pulled to within two at 67-65 when Stefon Jackson made one of two free throws with 1:56 left.
But Lorenzo Williams scored on a layup for a 69-65 Owl lead and teammate Rodney Foster added a free throw with 47 seconds left to make it 70-65.
Maurice Thomas scored inside for UTEP (12-8, 4-2) with 32 seconds remaining for a 70-67 score, but Rice answered with a Cory Pflieger layup and a Foster free throw. Pflieger finished with 15 points while Williams and Patrick Britton added 10 for the Owls.
Thomas led UTEP with 17 points. Kevin Henderson scored 14 and Malik Alvin and Jackson each added 12.
UTEP led by as many as five points in the second half, and held a 57-52 lead before Rice hit three straight 3-pointers to tie the game at 61 with 4:05 remaining.
