The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 24, 1980 Page: 13 of 20
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MEN'S BASKETBALL
Rice scares Aggies but drops one to the preppies
Kenny Austin (34) shoots over Aggies
(31) -
by Byron Welch
and Rich Whitney
The Rice men's basketball team
lost both home games last week.
The Owls played well against
league-leading Texas A&M
Saturday night, losing 84-65, but
Tuesday night blew an 11 point
lead late in the second half to lose
to SMU 85-83. The two losses put
Rice's season record at 1-5 in the
Southwest Conference, 3-11
overall.
Saturday's game against A&M
started out very badly for the Owls.
Kenny Austin's 6-foot turnaround
jumper tied the score at 6-6 with
two and one-Ftalf minutes gone.
Then Rice went 13 possessions
without scoring.
Rice's next score was a 3 point
play by Ricky Pierce after Vernon
Smith put A&M ahead 22-6. In
that spurt A&M held Rice
scoreless for seven minutes. The
teams traded baskets for the rest of
the half and Rice trailed 36-22 at
halftime.
Rice used a full court press for
much of the first half, but it gave
Texas A&M few problems. The
Aggies had seven turnovers but
only a few were caused by the
press. On the contrary, A&M
scored many layups after getting
the ball downcourt before Rice's
defense had a chance to set up.
Asked why Rice remained in the
press, Schuler expressed
confidence in it and said that Rice
couldn't just wait for A&M to
bring the ball down court and
attack.
Rice scored 11 straight points
' Vernon Smith Ricky Pierce (25) grabs rim to avoid injury after
Laura Rohwer being shoved. —Laura Rohwer
after Smith put the Aggies ahead
38-22 at the start of the second
half. Pierce's 3 point play on a
court-length inbounds pass from
Tony DeCello closed the gap to 38-
33. " ^
After a time-out, Texas A&M
coach Shelby Metcalf changed to a
1-3-1 zone that shut down the
Owls. Guard David Britton scored
6 of his game high 25 points in the
next 2 minutes as the Aggies
gradually rebuilt their lead.
The Owls came into Tuesday
night's game against SMU needing
a victory to stay out of the SWC
cellar. The Mustangs had lost
seven of their fast nine games and
seemed easy prey; however, the
Owls lost control of the game in the
second half and lost 85-83 despite
leading for 38 of the game's 40
minutes.
Early in the game Rice looked
unbeatable, racing to a 17-4 lead
after only five minutes of play.
Then the Mustangs broke the
Owls' momentum and began to get
the ball to their 6-10 center
Brad Branson, and behind
Branson's 10 points, pulled back to
within two, 22-20. Branson then
went to the bench for a rest and
Rice went back up by eight, 32-24.
The rest of the half was played out
in an atmosphere of confusion
created by the officials' many
questionable calls. Several
aggressive offensive plays by Billy
Allen kept the Mustangs close, and
Rice led at halftime 45-39.
In the second half Rice kept the
ball away from Branson and broke
SMU's full-court press several
times to increase its lead to 66-57
and force an SMU timeout with
10:14 left in the game. At that
point SMU began to work its
press most effectively. Several Rice
turnovers in the backcourt led to
easy baskets by Hale and Allen.
With 4:09 left, Branson brought
the Mustangs to within one, 75-74,
and Kenny Austin fouled out of
the game. Pierce and Hale
exchanged baskets, DeCello hit
two free throws, and Richard
Harris hit a long jumper for SMU.
With Rice leading by one, 79-78,
Willis Wilson turned the ball over.
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In one of the game's crucial plays,
SMU managed to control two
offensive rebounds before Dave
Piehler hit from 20 feet to give
SMU its first lead of the night, 80-
79, with 2:04 left. All seemed lost
for the Owls when Branson hit a
lavup to put SMU ahead 82-79
with 40 seconds left, but Bobby
Tudor answered immediately with
a 21 -foot jumper and, after a Rice
timeout, SMU could not get the
ball in-bounds within the time
limit. That set up a six-foot
field goal by Glen Rieke with 10
seconds left, putting Rice ahead
83-82. But SMU sent its inbounds
pass across midcourt where, after a
scramble, Branson picked it up
and hit a 16-foot jumper over
Rieke for the game-winning
points. DeCello tried to get the ball
downcourt, but was blocked on the
left sideline and charged into
Allen. Allen hit one free throw and
intentionally missed the second to
give SMU the victory, 85-83.
Ricky Pierce had 14 rebounds
against the large front line of
A&M, although he only hit 6 of 19
shots. Bobby Tudor hit 7 of 19,
most of those coming from verv far
out. Don Bennett played his best
game of the year, hitting 5-10 from
the field and snaring eight
rebounds.
Schuler was very disappointed
in the loss. "It was, I think, the first
time this season that we just gave a
game away." He said the loss ol
Kenny Austin and the many
backcourt turnovers were decisive
factors in the second half. Without
Austin, Rice rebounded weakly
and was hesitant to take the ball
inside. The backcourt turnovers
allowed SMU to control the tempo
of the game and gave them several
easy baskets. In the future, the
Owls must learn to protect a lead
while remaining opportunistic.
Anthony DeCello had an
outstanding game, finishing 6 for 9
from the field and 7 for 8 from the
line for 19 points. Ricky Fierce
scored 24 points, as he exploited
the SMU press for several baskets.
Robert Shaw finished with 15
points and Kenny Austin had 10.
For SMU, Billy Allen hit 9 of 13
shots from the floor and led all
scorers with 27 points. Brad
Branson and Phil Hale finished
with 23 and 15 points, respectively,
both scoring 13 in the second half
As a team, the Owls shot 50.7%
from the floor (62.5% in the second
half) and snared 32 rebounds
versus 58.3% and 28 rebounds for
SMU.
The Owls travel to Fayetteville
this weekend to meet Arkansas,
then return to Autry Court for a
Monday night game with Texas. A
win in either game might convince
Rice that they may become a
good, strong team in the near
future.
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The Rico Thresher. January 24. 1980. page 13
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Muller, Matthew. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 24, 1980, newspaper, January 24, 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245427/m1/13/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.