For a good portion of Sunday’s game, Rice’s Conference USA tournament hopes seemed to be in peril as it trailed the only bonus play foe it had beaten this season. But a second half shooting offensive helped the Owls keep those aspirations alive in a 77-66 win over Middle Tennessee State on Sunday at Tudor Fieldhouse.
“Really thought that second half was, if not the best, one of the best halves we’ve played all year at both ends of the floor,” Rice coach Scott Pera said. “We were as good as we’ve been defensively and as good as we’ve been offensively, and you saw the result.”
An 11-0 run by Middle Tennessee (7-22, 3-13) stretched a slim lead to double figures late in the first half, but Rice (14-15, 6-10) cut it to five by halftime.
The Owls missed four of their first six shots in the second half but eventually found a rhythm during a Blue Raiders scoring drought that lasted nearly three minutes.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, Robert Martin started the Owls’ comeback with a layup and ensuing free throw after a foul.
Over the next five minutes, Rice burst ahead on a 19-4 run during which the team converted three 3-point plays. With 10 minutes left, it ended on a 15-0 run when Jayce Johnson’s free throw stopped the bleeding.
A minute later, Drew Peterson gave Rice a 13-point advantage. He finished with 16 points and 10 assists, the first time a Rice player recorded double-digit assists since 2016. Martin — who helped power the mid-half run with Peterson — and Trey Murphy III each finished with a game-high 21 points.
“(Peterson’s) a really unique player. He’s a tough matchup,” Pera said. “As he continues to develop and work on his 3-point shot, he’ll become even more dangerous. The other thing Drew has is tremendous vision and anticipation. A couple careless turnovers tonight, I could do without the seven turnovers, but the fact that he had 10 assists shows you he’s a playmaker for us.”
Rice is competing in the conference’s lowest bonus play group with Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss and UTEP for one of two C-USA tournament spots.
The Blue Raiders’ chances were the slimmest, and Rice effectively ended whatever hopes they had left.
But after losing its opening bonus play game to UTEP a weekend ago — after losing to the Miners in January — the Owls have strengthened their chances in a three-way race for the final two seeds.
Rice will play Southern Miss on Wednesday and concludes the regular season against UTEP on Saturday at home.
“With this win, we’ve got our fate in our own hands now,” Peterson said. “We choose if we go to the tournament by how we play.”
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