Owls beat buzzer and Mustangs
Just when it looked as though the Rice basketball team would continue its losing streak, J.J. Polk came to the rescue.
With the Owls trailing Southern Methodist University by one point Wednesday night, and 4.2 seconds remaining in the game, Polk took the inbounds pass, drove the length of the court and hit a buzzer-beating runner from the foul line to lift Rice to a 71-70 victory over the Mustangs in Dallas.
Polk's heroics followed a Jamal Rich three-pointer that apparently had killed an Owl comeback and extended their losing streak to four consecutive games.
"It's one of those plays we work on once a week in practice, just to refresh guys' memories," Head Coach Willis Wilson said. "It's a play designed to get it in to J.J., and, if he can hit Tommy [McGhee] or Eric [Singletary] on a move over the top, he throws it to them.
" If he can't, he just pushes it as deep as he can, knowing he's going to draw defenders or be isolated one-on-one. He was one-on-one, and what a shot."
Rice's seventh consecutive victory over the Mustangs improved the Owls' record to 12-10 overall, 4-6 in the Southwest Conference. SMU dropped to 6-15, 2-7.
"We just dug in and fought our way back," Wilson said. "They're a good basketball team. We had some go-to guys that just stepped up big tonight. I couldn't be happier to get a win on the road in the Southwest Conference tonight."
SMU expanded a 31-27 halftime lead to 12 points in the second half, when Rice started chipping away.
The Owls finally gained the lead at 65-64 with 1:48 to play when Shaun Igo, who scored a game-high 33 points in only 25 minutes, hit a pair of free throws.
Rich answered with a three-pointer, one of his six on the night, to put SMU back in the lead. He finished with 22 points.
Singletary and McGhee then converted both ends of their trips to the free-throw line to give Rice a 69-67 lead with 12.4 seconds to go.
This, however, would only last as long as Rich's final long-range shot.
Singletary, Polk and McGhee added 10 points apiece.
The Owls dropped a bizarre 63-59 decision to the University of Houston at Hofheinz Pavilion on Saturday night.
Playing a strong half-court defense, Rice held the Cougars to one field goal over the final 7:45 of the game.
This followed a stretch from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second when the Owls held Houston without a basket for 7:44.
The Cougars, however, picked up the slack from the free-throw line. They scored 13 of their final 15 points from the charity stripe.
They also succeeded in shutting down Rice's offense. Stricken with an inability to finish off scoring opportunities, the Owls squandered 17 offensive rebounds and finished with an ugly 31.7 shooting percentage.
McGhee led Rice with 18 points, despite making only six of 20 shots from the floor. Igo added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Rice returns home to play Texas A&M University on Saturday at 7:35 p.m.
This game, and the subsequent contest with Texas Christian University on Feb. 21, will be significant for Owl hopes of finishing in the top half of the conference standings.
Victories will also strengthen Owl chances for their sixth consecutive winning season, which would tie a team record set from 1939-45.
Texas A&M beat Rice 78-56 in College Station on Jan. 20.
"It's going to be a tough basketball game," Wilson said. "It always is with the Aggies. The teams play two different tempos. They controlled the tempo at their place -- we've got to get it back.
"I know our guys are going to be hungry to get a win against the Aggies. If there's any basketball team out there that makes you earn your keep every night, it's the Texas Aggies.
"Our guys understand that. We're looking forward to it."
This item appeared in the Sports section of the February 16, 1996 issue.
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