Men's basketball falls to Portland State in final-second loss
Brody Rollins
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Sports
From the opening tip to the waning seconds, the basketball team battled back and forth but ultimately lost to unanimous Big Sky conference preseason favorite Portland State University. The match-up was the first ever men's game played in the renovated Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday.
IN PHOTOS: OPENING WEEKEND AT TUDOR FIELDHOUSE
The Owls shot the ball well during the game, hitting 52 percent of their shots. The first shot to go in was a layup by junior guard Cory Pflieger, who also scored a team high 17 points. Pflieger played in only five games last season after sustaining a serious ankle injury in November against Eastern Illinois University.
Rice's touch from the perimeter opened up the baseline for multiple backdoor cuts and easy buckets, which translated into an early 10-point lead.
PSU played catch-up throughout the half and by halftime Rice held a narrow 36-33 lead.
Rebounding was the sorest spot for the Owls, who played their first game without departed seniors Paulius Packevicius (Wiess '08) and Patrick Britton (Jones '08), the top two rebounders on the team last season.
The Vikings hauled in 11 offensive rebounds in the first half and had 17 in the game to Rice's five. In total rebounds the story was the same as PSU dominated the category 38-27. For the Owls, senior forward Aleks Perka led the team with nine rebounds, and senior guard Rodney Foster followed with four. Foster also dished a game-high nine assists.
PSU used its rebounding prowess in the first half to score 15 second-chance points while the Owls recorded just two. The same disparity held true for points in the paint where Rice was outscored 20-10.
"The same problem that we had throughout the game was rebounding," Pflieger said. "We knew going into halftime that if we limited that we would put them away in the second half. But in the second half they knocked down shots and that's how it turned out."
IN PHOTOS: OPENING WEEKEND AT TUDOR FIELDHOUSE
The Owls shot the ball well during the game, hitting 52 percent of their shots. The first shot to go in was a layup by junior guard Cory Pflieger, who also scored a team high 17 points. Pflieger played in only five games last season after sustaining a serious ankle injury in November against Eastern Illinois University.
Rice's touch from the perimeter opened up the baseline for multiple backdoor cuts and easy buckets, which translated into an early 10-point lead.
PSU played catch-up throughout the half and by halftime Rice held a narrow 36-33 lead.
Rebounding was the sorest spot for the Owls, who played their first game without departed seniors Paulius Packevicius (Wiess '08) and Patrick Britton (Jones '08), the top two rebounders on the team last season.
The Vikings hauled in 11 offensive rebounds in the first half and had 17 in the game to Rice's five. In total rebounds the story was the same as PSU dominated the category 38-27. For the Owls, senior forward Aleks Perka led the team with nine rebounds, and senior guard Rodney Foster followed with four. Foster also dished a game-high nine assists.
PSU used its rebounding prowess in the first half to score 15 second-chance points while the Owls recorded just two. The same disparity held true for points in the paint where Rice was outscored 20-10.
"The same problem that we had throughout the game was rebounding," Pflieger said. "We knew going into halftime that if we limited that we would put them away in the second half. But in the second half they knocked down shots and that's how it turned out."
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