HOUSTON --- A late cold spell by Houston Christian University aided a final push from Rice University as the Huskies dropped a 61-58 barn-burner to the Owls at Sharp Gymnasium on Friday night. The visitors rallied with an 11-3 run over the final six and a half minutes to sneak out of Sharp Gym and back across town, handing HCU its first home loss of the season.
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The Huskies got out of the gates quick, with
Julian Mackey scoring seven points over the first four minutes of the contest to stake the hosts to an early 10-4 advantage. A layup in the paint by
Ivan Reynolds on a dime from Mackey and then later an offensive putback from
Trent Johnson kept the lead at eight, 14-6 at the 14-minute mark. Rice would mount a charge, getting a three-pointer from Denver Anglin and a bucket in the paint from Trae Broadnax to tie the score at 16 just ahead of the eight-minute media.
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The two teams would trade buckets for the next couple of minutes before another triple from Anglin gave the Owls their first lead since the opening bucket, 23-21. With the Rice lead atthree just over three minutes later,
Bryson Dawkins pulled the Huskies to within one, 27-26 on a strong move through the paint.
Porter Bazil would knock down a trey to give HCU the lead back, but a layup from Kellen Amos for Rice knotted things at 29 apiece heading into the halftime break.
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Out of the intermission, Rice would score four of the first six followed by a six-point run from the Huskies. Another three-ball from Anglin cut the HCU lead to 37-36 with 15:30 to play. That would be the last bucket by the Owls for the next four minutes, as HCU proceeded to score the next 10 points of the contest. Three-point plays from Dawkins and
Porter Bazil sandwiched a beautiful move by
D'Aundre Samuels to five HCU an 11-point lead, 47-36 with 12:26 to play in the ballgame.
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The lead would stay at nine for another three minutes before the visitors began to chip away. Caden Powell and Trae Broadnax put in four points each and Aaron Powell hit his only shot of the night, a three-ball with 8:40 to go that closed the gap to four, 50-46.
Bryson Dawkins nailed a step-back three-pointer with 6:37 to play to stop the bleeding momentarily, but sixty seconds later a tip-in by Caden Powell off a missed free-throw tied the game at 55.
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Dawkins three was the final made field goal for the Huskies on the evening, as they went cold down the stretch missing their final eight shots. Two free throws from
Ivan Reynolds gave HCU it's final lead of the evening 57-55 with 2:54 to play, but a jumper in the paint from Anglin 58 seconds later would give the Owls the lead for good, 59-57. Â Kellen Amos hit two big free throws with 15 ticks on the clock to push the Rice lead to three, and Dawkins three at the buzzer to tie was off.
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The Huskies shot just 36% on the evening but forced 16 Rice turnovers while committing only four. The Owls used a massive edge on the backboards, cleaning the glass to a 46-25 tune.
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Bryson Dawkins led HCU with 10 points and six rebounds.
Ivan Reynolds had a season-high nine and three steals while
Demari Williams chipped in nine as well off the pine.
Elijah Brooks had eight points and six rebounds, while
Julian Mackey and
D'Aundre Samuels each had seven.
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Rice ran its winning streak to four in improving to 5-1 on the season. The Owls put a trio of players in double-figures, led by Trae Broadnax who scored a game-high 19 points to go with six rebounds and four assists. Denver Anglin had 15 off the bench and Kellen Amos went for 12 points and six rebounds. Caden Powell hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds.
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HCU is now 2-3 overall and will complete the four-game homestand next week when it hosts a pair of games in Sharp Gym. HCU will take on Eastern Michigan University on Monday night, followed by a Thanksgiving Eve matchup against Northern Arizona University on Wednesday.
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