FINAL:
MTSU- 71
Rice- 68
HOUSTON Texas. – The Blue Raiders traveled to Houston to take on The Rice Owls Wednesday night looking to go to 3-3 in conference play. The Raiders and Owls had already laced up against each other one time this season in an 81-46 blowout for Middle. The Raiders were looking for a sweep, and Rice was looking for revenge.
This one was back and forth off the jump as both teams traded body blows. It was eventually The Owls that shifted the momentum first and pulled away with a 15-2 run near the 10:00 mark. The Raiders, who were having an abysmal shooting performance, were going to have to wake up to get back into this one. By the end of the first half MTSU had shot 0-10 from three and just 33% from the field. The Owls took a 36-22 lead into the locker room at home. It was going to take a special effort by MTSU to get back in the game in the second half.
By the time the clock hit 9:00, Middle had made it a one-point game. In the second half MTSU added seven steals to its first half total as well as corrected their shooting issues improving to 8 for 12 from three and 69% from the field. The final statistics will not reflect how well The Raiders played in the second half because the first half stats are so detrimental to the total, but when all was said and done MTSU had outscored Rice 49-32 after the break. Middle completed the season sweep of Rice with a final score of 71-68
Outscored the Owls by 17 after halftime.
And secured the season sweep!! 🧹 #BlueRaiders | #StickTogether pic.twitter.com/u4LTLuF9fL
— MT Basketball (@MT_MBB) January 12, 2023
Eli Lawrence led all scorers with 21 points for Middle, while Quincy Olivari was close behind with 20 for Rice. Deandre Dishman led all players with ten rebounds, as Max Fiedler led Rice with seven. Felder also led all players with eight assists.
This is what Head Coach, Nick McDevitt, had to say post game via Goblueraiders.com:
“I’m really proud of our team in terms of toughness. We’re on the road, this team’s 9-2 in their last 11 games… I was really impressed with North Texas’s team toughness when we had a big lead [Saturday]. They just didn’t stop being who they were, and I thought that was us tonight in the second half.”
The Blue Raiders’ next game is against UAB, at home, at 8:00pm on Monday.
