Saturday Sports Update: Owls fall to UCF in nail-biter
Senior Cliff Ghoram stood as Rice's only senior today in the team's final game at Tudor Fieldhouse against the University of Central Florida. He put up 13 points in a nail-biting 66-59 loss. Sophomore Connor Frizelle led both teams with 19 points. The first half showed why they say that basketball is a game of runs. Unfortunately for the Owls, none of their runs could be sustained for long enough to grab a lead. UCF got out to an early 11-4 lead thanks to a medley of errors coming from the home team. Turnovers came from junior Suleiman Braimoh and freshamn Arsalan Kazemi. Freshman Tamir Jackson set the dismal tone of the game with two missed free-throws, and no one could seem to put the ball in the net.
The Owls sixth point only came after six minutes of play, and the arena was filled with a burst of emotion soon after. Freshman Chris Eversley sank a three-pointer from the corner to make the score 11-9. Then, just seconds later Kazemi earned a steal and proceeded to take it down the court for a fast break dunk. But the Knights' Dave Diakite had no plans of allowing an easy bucket. After a hard foul on Kazemi, Diakite and A.J. Holland shared some words that resulted in technical fouls for both.
While the momentum seemed to be shifted in favor of the Owls, their performance continued to stall and stutter. Kazemi failed to tie the game, making just one free-throw to set the score at 11-10 with 13 minutes left in the half. UCF responded and maintained separation for the rest of the half.
The Owl got to within a point of the visitors twice, making it 15-14 with ten minutes left and 23-22 with 5:34 left. Unfortunately, Rice could not capitalize on any of their advances, making it especially hard on themselves by shooting 35 percent from the free throw line.
The Knights finished off the half with 32-25 lead despite giving up 15 turnovers and giving up eight offensive rebounds.
In a familiar situation, down at home after 20 minutes of play, the Owls needed a veteran jumpstart to get back into the match. UCF had extended its lead to 36-25 when Ghoram made a three-pointer and Braimoh converted on a put back that made the score 36-30 after three minutes of play.
Ghoram and Frizzelle led an inspired effort to get the Owls within one point, once again, setting the score 41-40 with just under 12 minutes to play. This time, Rice broke through UCF's defenses and took their first lead of 42-41 off another put back from Braimoh.
But no one thought to count the Knights out, and they were able to regain a 50-44 lead midway through the final half. Responded when he needed to most, Frizzelle responded immediately when he made a lay up off a backdoor cut, along with the free throw to get the Owls within three.
A hard-fought battle ensued when Ghoram tied the game at 52 with just under seven minutes left. With four minutes left the crowd was electrified when Kazemi got one of his seven steals at midcourt and slammed the ball down off the fast break to take the lead 57-55. A UCF three-pointer was a kick in the gut for the home team, but Rice showed what fight they had left in them, tying the game at 59 with 1:45 left.
But even on senior night, things just did not go Rice's way. UCF responded with a three-pointer off of a mismanaged man-to-man defense. Afterwards, Jackson showed how green he is with a poor pass to Braimoh that was stolen, forcing the Owls to start fouling with 28 seconds left in the game.
Enough free throws fell, and an offensive rebound from UCF ended the night on a bad note. The final score was 66-59.
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