What a hoot! Men’s basketball downs Rice in Houston

The Tulane men’s basketball team narrowly escaped the tight clasp of Rice’s talons on Wednesday, defeating the Owls 61-59 in the game’s final seconds.
The tension between the teams became palpable during the high-intensity match.  Even Rice’s mascot, “Sammy the Owl” was ejected in the second half.   Nevertheless, the Green Wave was able to rise above the drama and walk away with a victory after trailing by 14 at the half.
In a play that made SportsCenter, junior guard Kevin Sims ran the ball down the middle of the court and made a layup to win the game as the final second ticked off the clock.  Sims’ shot went nearly uncontested due to his teammates’ strong defensive effort.
“The final play was something we have worked on, and we knew if we could get the ball to Kevin Sims, our best ball handler, on the run, then we would have a chance of getting him to the basket,” head coach Dave Dickerson said.   “Tonight, Kevin was able to get to the basket, and it was a great win for us on the road.”
Tulane struggled in the first half, making only 37 percent of its shots while Rice connected with almost 61 percent of its basket attempts. The Wave, however, was able to outscore the Owls on free throws 13-8.
The Green Wave overcame the first half deficit with a phenomenal second half effort spearheaded by sophomore guard Kris Richard. Richard led all scorers with 17 points, 12 of which came in the second half.
“This was a really great effort by our team tonight,” Dickerson said. “We knew we had to change the way we played in the first half by being a different team in the second half. We had to rely on our defense because we can’t outscore people, but when we defend, we rebound and turn our defensive efforts into points.
My hat’s off to Kris Richard. Without his play in the second half, and especially in the first seven minutes of the second half, there’s no way we would have won the game.”
Tulane now has the sweep on the season against Rice. On Jan. 10, Tulane defeated Rice 65-54, in a slightly less intense game at Fogelman Arena. The Green Wave will return home to face third-ranked C-USA foe UCF tomorrow at 2 p.m.