Box Score Houston, TX—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team was plagued by foul trouble Friday evening committing 29 personals, and allowing Rice to take 37 free throws on the night, as the Highlanders dropped an 87-81 road decision to the Owls.

The Highlanders foul difficulties began almost immediately as Alex Larsson picked up two personals in the first 95 seconds of play, Robert Boezeman and Jaylen Bland were whistled for three and two respectively before the second media timeout, and Secean Johnson picked up his second of the game with 8:05 to go in the first. The Owls had some foul troubles of their own as Marcus Evans and Amir Smith picked up two each in the first seven minutes of action.

A parade to the free throw line ensued with the Highlanders making 11 of 15 from the charity stripe over the first 20 minutes of play, while Rice connected on 14 of 20.

Despite the constant whistles, the score was tied at 38 with 1:58 to go in the first. Rice scored the next eight points, however, and took a 48-42 lead into the locker room.

With four of five starters in foul difficulty, Gentrey Thomas and Malik Thames stepped up scoring 10 points each in the first. Primitivo Gomez added six off the bench as the reserves accounted for 26 of UC Riverside's 42 first-half points.

The foul situation was also partially responsible for a very un-Highlanders-like effort on the defensive end, as the Owls connected on 53.6 percent of their shots from the floor. Egor Koulechov led three Rice players in double figures with 13, while Evans and Marquez Letcher-Ellis added 10 apiece.

Unfortunately, UC Riverside's defensive difficulties continued in the second as the Owls made five of their first eight shots from the floor after the break, and Rice still led by nine, 65-56, with less than 12 minutes to go.

The Highlanders scored four straight on a Menno Dijkstra jumper and a Steven Jones lay up to cut the lead to five, but Rice countered by scoring eight in a row for their largest lead of the game at 14.

UC Riverside had one last run in its arsenal, trailing by 12 with 3:14 to go. A Bland three reduced the lead to single digits, and following an Owls turnover, Malik Thames jumper made it an 82-75 ballgame.

Johnson's old-fashioned three-point play sliced the lead to four, 82-78, with 1:28 on the clock, but the run was stopped when Andrew Drone made a lay up and was fouled. He converted the subsequent free throw to push the lead back out to seven with 76 ticks remaining.

Koulechov stole the ball from Thames on UCR's next possession, though, and Evans drained a pair of free throws to effectively seal the victory.

The Owls made 28 of their 37 free throw attempts on the night and hit 49.1 percent of their field goal attempts. Koulechov led the way with 18 points and right rebounds while Letcher-Ellis added 17, Drone chipped in with 13, and Mac Guercy scored 12. Guercy nearly recorded a triple-double adding seven rebounds and a game-high nine assists.

The Highlanders were led by Thames' 16 points, and 15 each from Bland and Johnson. Johnson just missed out on a double-double grabbing a team-high eight boards. As a team, UCR made 41.7 percent of their shots on the night, but just 36.4 percent after intermission.

UC Riverside remains in the Lone Star State this weekend as they travel to Beaumont, Texas Sunday for a 12 pm PT tip against Lamar.