Rice Owls 81, Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks 49

Posted: November 20, 2011 - 9:24 p.m. CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Tudor Fieldhouse) -- Thursday night, Rice Owls guard Tamir Jackson scored a career-high 29 points in the Owls win over Southern. Sunday afternoon, Jackson scored one point; but, the Owls cruised to an 81-49 victory over the Hawks of Maryland-Eastern Shore in front of 1245 fans inside Tudor Fieldhouse.

The Hawks (1-3) scored the first two points of the game; however, Owls (3-0) senior forward Lucas Kuipers scored five straight games to give the Owls the lead for good. In fact, after trailing 2-0, the Owls scored 20 straight points. Kuipers and teammate Connor Frizzelle each drained two three-point shots during the run.

Percy Woods score five points during an 11-3 run by the Hawks to trim the Owls' lead to 11 points (23-12); but, bench players David Chadwick, Ahmad Ibrahim, and Dylan Ennis helped increase the lead back to 18 points before Woods drained a three-point shot right before the halftime buzzer.

Rice led 38-23 at halftime. The Owls shot 51.7% (15 for 29) from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Eleven of the 15 baskets came from assists.

The Hawks scored five of the first six points to start the second half to pull within 39-28; but, four points from junior forward Arsalan Kazemi; followed by a three-point basket by freshman Seth Gearhart and a fast break dunk by freshman Julian DeBose upped the lead to 20 points and put the game away with 15:12 remaining.

The final 15 minutes became the Omar Oraby Show.

Oraby, 7'2", 265 pound sophomore center, entered the game for the Owls and quickly scored five points in 42 seconds. Two minutes later, Oraby scored a layup. Then, Oraby added three free throws and a blocked shot in a span of 61 seconds. Oraby was fouled hard and banged his head against the backboard; but, after laying on the court for a few minutes, Oraby returned after the media timeout and sank the free throws. Oraby's stellar play continued the rest of the half. In fact, Oraby finished the game with a team-high (and career-high) 17 points (5 for 7 field goals and 7 for 8 free throws). Oraby's 17 points came in just eight minutes of game action.

After the game, Oraby humbly thanked his teammates for getting him the ball.

"I want to thank my teammates very much," Oraby said. "They were the ones feeding me the ball. They saw that, as soon as I got in, that I was shooting well; and, that I was making my baskets. They realized that; so, they kept feeding me the ball; and, I kept scoring. A lot of that goes to my teammates."

Oraby's 17 points led four Owls players who scored in double digits. Arsalan Kazemi and Connor Frizzelle each scored 11 and Lucas Kuipers added 10 points.

Fifteen Owls players participated in the game. Fourteen picked up at least one rebound. Twelve scored at least one point. The Owls' reserve players scored 46 points off the bench.

Owls head coach Ben Braun was pleased with his team's performance.

"We're playing a lot of guys right now," Coach Braun said. "We'll see how the rotations go; but, depending on the team we play, and the proximity of games, we'll see how that plays out.

"We have different combinations that we can look at. We're just trying to find those things out now; and, we're giving guys opportunities which is important."

The Owls continue their home stand Tuesday, November 22, versus the Alcorn State Braves. Tip is set for 7 p.m.