Men's Basketball played their second exhibition game of the season against Rice University. After two hard-fought halves, the Celts fell to the Division I Owls 85-48 at Tudor Fieldhouse. 

The yearly tradition of the crosstown rivals playing each other continued in the 2022 season as Rice was first to strike with a quick layup and three-pointer to open the match. Down by five, Ricky Altimarano was first to get the Celts on the board with a three to cut the deficit down to two.  At that point, Rice went on an 11-2 run to make the score 16-5 with 11 minutes remaining in the half. From there a 9-0 run was kickstarted by a Calen Anderson layup as St. Thomas found themselves within two 16-14. However, the lead was too much to handle as the half ended with St. Thomas down 38-24. 

The second half was opened by Adam Kanafani scoring a jumper and Calvin Williams adding a layup. This was where the Owls defense tightened and within those four points added 15 points of their own as the score showed 41-26. The Division I owls gave the Celts all they could handle as they continued to tack on points. However, with this being an exhibition match, Coach Medina turned to his freshmen to kickstart late game action. Luke Ramirez scored his first points of his career with a layup, and Demi Aerola tacked on three rebounds as the clock winded down. 

Offensively, Freddie Ricks continued his strong start to the season with 13 points off the bench. Defensively, Calen Anderson had six rebounds and a steal. 

Up next, the Celts return to the JAAC for homecoming as they take on Arlington Baptist at 4pm.