HOUSTON (AP)—Morris Almond scored 36 points to lead Rice to an 83-71 victory over Lamar on Wednesday night.
Almond, who is averaging 29.3 points per game, made 11 of 17 shots from the field, including 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. He scored 20 of his 36 points in the second half.
Lamar (3-6) led 42-40 with 14:45 left in the game after a Lamar Sanders basket, but Rice (4-4) then went on an 8-0 run and led the remainder of the way.
The Owls’ biggest lead was 13 points, the last time at 76-63 on a basket by Paulius Packevicius with 3:14 left.
Lamar was led by Sanders with 18 points. James Davis added 16.
Greg Killings added 11 points and Chris Hagan scored 10 for Rice.
Although Rice led just 33-30 at halftime, it never trailed in the first half.
The Owls scored the first six points of the game and held Lamar scoreless until the 16:49 mark when Matthew Barrow scored on a layup.
Rice eventually opened a 12-2 advantage on a Rodney Foster 3-pointer with 15:54 showing. The Owls held their biggest lead of the half at 25-14 when Almond connected on consecutive 3-pointers, the last with 7:21 remaining.
