Pirates Can't Maintain Lead, Fall to Rice 83-74
February 04, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2007
HOUSTON (AP) -- Morris Almond scored 21 of his game-high 34 points in the second half to rally Rice to an 83-74 win over East Carolina on Saturday night.
Almond, who moved up two spots to become Rice's fifth all-time leading scorer, produced seven points in a pivotal 11-0 Owls run in the second half. That spree turned a 53-47 deficit into a 58-53 Owl lead that Rice never relinquished.
The Pirates closed the gap to 62-61 with 8:04 left on a basket by Cory Farmer, but the Owls scored nine of the next 10 points for a 71-62 cushion with 4:20 showing.
Rice (11-10, 5-3 Conference USA) made 11 consecutive free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
Owls senior guard Lorenzo Williams added a season-high 20 points. East Carolina was led by Courtney Captain's 21 points while John Fields and Farmer each scored 15.
Led by Captain's 13 points, the Pirates (5-16, 0-8) held a 42-37 halftime lead.
The Pirates had as much as a nine-point advantage on two occasions, the last time at 40-31 on a 3-pointer by Jeremy Ingram with 2:31 showing.
Rice made 30-of-38 free throw attempts to just 11-of-17 for the Pirates.
