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HOUSTON - Rice took 22 more free throws than HBU on Wednesday as the Husky men's basketball team dropped a 90-77 decision to the Owls at Tudor Fieldhouse.
 
The Huskies (2-4) won the tip and junior center Josh Ibarra put HBU on the board first with a quick bucket on the opening possession of the game. Rice (6-1) quickly answered and took a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the game. The Owls built their lead to 14 at its largest, leading 31-17 with 7:23 left in the half. HBU picked up the pace over the next seven minutes and closed the stanza by out-scoring Rice 12-6 to go into halftime trailing 37-29.
 
HBU came out in the second half with a 17-8 run to pull within one at 46-45. Rice responded and pushed its lead up to nine before Colter Lasher cut it back to five with a pair of free throws with seven minutes left to play but that was the closest the Huskies got the rest of the way.
 
Lasher finished with a team-high 15 points on 6-14 shooting, including 3-3 from the charity stripe. Reveal Chukwujekwu added 14 for the Huskies, connecting on 7-15 from the floor. Josh Ibarra added 10 points and a team-high six boards while Alex Fountain put up 11 points in 23 minutes off the bench.
 
The Owls' Marcus Evans led all players with 31 points and eight assists while Marquez Letcher-Ellis added 12. Rice held a 34-29 advantage over HBU in rebounds.
 
The Owls were sent to the line 33 times to the Huskies' 11 with 27 fouls called on HBU compared to 15 on Rice. The Huskies shot 49.3 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three, hitting 3-9 from deep for the game, and scored 44 of their 77 points in the paint. Rice knocked down 7-18 from three and shot 53.7 percent from the floor.
 
HBU will have a week off before hosting St. Peter's in The following Wednesday, December 7, HBU will host St. Peter's in Sharp Gym at 7:00 p.m.