HOUSTON, Texas – The game may not have counted in the records for the St. Edward's Men's Basketball team but you never would have known it by the effort the Hilltoppers exhibited on the court in front of a packed house at Tudor Fieldhouse. SEU nearly defeated NCAA Division I Rice University, falling 78-73 Thursday afternoon.
 
AUGUST HAAS' jumper on the opening possession sent the crowd into a frenzy, setting the tone for the exciting contest they were in store for as SEU opened the game on a 7-0 run. Rice eventually joined in the fun and battled back to post their largest lead of the half, 30-20, with five minutes to go.
 
The Hilltoppers used a 10-0 run fueled by Haas and DORIAN LOPEZ to even the game and the Owls held a slight one-point advantage at the break, 31-30.
 
The game remained tight but with Rice retaining the lead as the second half got underway, but Haas and RYAN GARZA got hot offensively to put the Hilltoppers back on top, 56-49, with just under ten minutes remaining.
 
SEU kept Rice from regaining the lead for over 12 minutes in the second half, but as the clock wound down the Owls felt the pressure from their fans and found another gear in the final three minutes. A layup by Rice's Chris Mullins tied the game for the eighth time, 73-73, with 1:40 to go.
 
St. Edward's was able to hold Rice to a single field goal to close the game, but were unable to generate enough offense to pull out the win, falling 78-73.
 
Haas led with 16 points on 7-14 shooting, 2-3 from long range with four assists on the afternoon. Lopez closed with a double-double with 12 points, ten boards and a team high five assists.
 
SEU shot 47.5% from the floor and 37% from long range while holding Rice to 44.6% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range. The Owls got 21 points from the free throw line on 26 attempts while the Hilltoppers went just 5-8 from the charity stripe.
 
St. Edward's remains at 9-1 on the year and returns home to face Schreiner University on Saturday at 2 pm.