Men's basketball visited Rice Tuesday night in their last exhibition before beginning their regular season schedule. The Celts battled throughout the game, but the DI Owls proved to be a tough matchup for UST, as Rice prevailed 101-57.
The Celts jumped out to an early 7-4 lead with baskets from Calvin Williams IV, Andrew Adebo, and Calen Anderson keying a 7-0 run in the opening minutes. From there, though, the Celts struggled to compete with the Owls' size and the offense went cold. St. Thomas made one more run before halftime with a three from Andrew Adebo and five quick points from Williams, which cut the Rice lead to 18. Rice led 47-25 at the break.
St. Thomas played perhaps their best stretch of basketball in the first five minutes of the second half, coming out of the break with a 12-6 start. Williams once again led the charge with a display of tough shots, and Nick Anderson chipped in with a three of his own during the stretch. From there, though, Rice's shooters got hot, and the Owls pulled away down the stretch to win comfortably.
Williams led all scorers in the game with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting (4-of-9 from three) and Nick Anderson followed up his massive game against Lamar with 8 points and 4 rebounds, but it wasn't enough against DI competition.
With preseason play now officially behind them, UST opens up regular season play Wednesday night at LeTourneau. Be sure to follow the website for updates and continue supporting the Celts!
