Rice beats NAIA St. Thomas (Texas) 83-63

Dec 21, 2016, 11:51 pm

HOUSTON -- Egor Koulechov scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds as Rice beat St. Thomas (Texas) of the NAIA 83-63 on Wednesday night.

Koulechov was 8 of 14 from the field including 3 of 3 from beyond the arc for the Owls (10-3). Marcus Jackson added 12 points and Tim Harrison had 11 points and four rebounds. Rice had a 48-35 rebounding edge over St. Thomas.

The Owls fell behind by three early in the first half but recovered to go up by 10, 32-22, on a Marcus Evans dunk with 5:05 to go in the half. Koulechov made two 3-pointers and Jackson sank a third all in the final 1:40 of the period, helping Rice build a 50-33 lead at intermission. They led by double figures from there on.

Nathan Thormaehlen led the Celts with 13 points and nine rebounds. Kennard Robinson added 11 points, four rebounds and five steals.