TOWC: Rice Wins Championship With Victory Over Washington State
TOWC: Rice Wins Championship With Victory Over Washington State
Submitted by Scott Wilson
Phone: (907) 474-6807
11/24/03
The Rice University Owls defeated Washington State University 64-49 Sunday night to win the 2003 BP Top of the World Classic. The Owls led 32-26 at the intermission and outscored WSU 32-23 in the second half to secure the 15-point victory.
The first half of the game was tight as there were five lead changes and four ties. Washington State came out of the blocks early and led 6-2 with 15:57 showing only to watch Rice come back to take a 9-7 advantage at the 12:33 mark on a free throw by Randy Green. WSU rallied and pushed itself out to a five-point advantage at 16-11 with 8:54 remaining in the period, but the Owls came back to regain the lead and left the floor at the intermission with a 32-26 advantage.
Michael Harris, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, led the Owls with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Jason McKreith chipped in with 13 points, while Yamar Diene added 11. Rice hit 25 of 53 shots from the field for 47 percent.
Washington State was led in scoring by Marcus Moore with 16 points and Ezenwa Ukeagu added 10 points and a team high of six rebounds. Chris Schlatter, Thomas Kelati and Shami Gill added six points each. The Cougars shot 33 percent from the field, connecting on 19 of 56 attempts.
Things didn’t get any better for the Cougars in the second half Sunday night as Rice continued to shoot well from the field and pressure on defense. WSU got as close as eight on three separate occasions in the final 20 minutes with the final time coming with 5:35 left in the game and the score 54-46.
Final Tournament Standings
1. Rice University
2. Washington State University
3. St. Mary’s College
4. Idaho State University
5. Alaska Fairbanks
6. Texas-San Antonio
7. Binghamton University
8. Virginia Military
2003 BP Top of the World Classic
All-Tournament Team
Nick Billings
Radee Skipworth
LeRoy Hurd
Jeff Gardner
Brad Oleson
Daniel Kickert
Yamar Diene
Shami Gill
Jason McKreith
Marcus Moore
Tournament MVP