Saturday's Sports Update: Blazers' comeback trumps Owls
Yan Digilov
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Sports
Another chance led to another dropped lead for the men's basketball team Saturday afternoon, as Rice (7-15, 1-8 Conference USA) dropped a frustrating 76-65 loss to one of the nation's top teams, University of Alabama- Birmingham. Freshman Arsalan Kazemi led the squad with 15 points and 13 rebounds, followed by senior Cliff Ghoram with and junior Trey Stanton with 12 points each.
It was a first half to remember for the Owls. Sophomore guard Lucas Kuipers set the tone early with a three-pointer to start the game, and right off the bat, the home team got back on defense. Holding UAB (19-4, 7-2 C-USA) to 30 percent shooting, Rice's stifling defense produced 13 points off of turnovers in the first half alone.
The Owls maintained a tight lead until 13 minutes left in the first half when the Blazers finally broke through to grab a 10-9 lead with a monster slam dunk. Though it seemed like momentum was about to shift to the home team, Rice stepped up its play and came firing back.
An 8-2 run put Rice up with eight minutes left in the half. Slowly the Owls began pulling away from UAB with relentless defense and a newfound confidence in their ability to score. A big scoring tide came off of a Stanton dunk that made it 25-19 with five minutes left. Frizzelle then scored six points in a row to give them a formidable 31-19 lead with three minutes left in the half.
But as both squads got more physical, fouls started mounting. The Blazers got five free throws in a row and finished the half down by a score of 31-26.
Unfortunately for the Owls, the scoring drought with which they finished the first half came out with them in the second. It would take them 2:30 before Stanton could make a three-point shot. But by that time, the UAB comeback was complete, and the Owls were down 35-34.
"We got passive," freshman point guard Tamir Jackson said. "We didn't stay aggressive. We stopped getting back on defense in transition. Then we got frustrated with ourselves and started taking bad shots."
It was a first half to remember for the Owls. Sophomore guard Lucas Kuipers set the tone early with a three-pointer to start the game, and right off the bat, the home team got back on defense. Holding UAB (19-4, 7-2 C-USA) to 30 percent shooting, Rice's stifling defense produced 13 points off of turnovers in the first half alone.
The Owls maintained a tight lead until 13 minutes left in the first half when the Blazers finally broke through to grab a 10-9 lead with a monster slam dunk. Though it seemed like momentum was about to shift to the home team, Rice stepped up its play and came firing back.
An 8-2 run put Rice up with eight minutes left in the half. Slowly the Owls began pulling away from UAB with relentless defense and a newfound confidence in their ability to score. A big scoring tide came off of a Stanton dunk that made it 25-19 with five minutes left. Frizzelle then scored six points in a row to give them a formidable 31-19 lead with three minutes left in the half.
But as both squads got more physical, fouls started mounting. The Blazers got five free throws in a row and finished the half down by a score of 31-26.
Unfortunately for the Owls, the scoring drought with which they finished the first half came out with them in the second. It would take them 2:30 before Stanton could make a three-point shot. But by that time, the UAB comeback was complete, and the Owls were down 35-34.
"We got passive," freshman point guard Tamir Jackson said. "We didn't stay aggressive. We stopped getting back on defense in transition. Then we got frustrated with ourselves and started taking bad shots."
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