Mohamed Diakite scored 23 points and the East Texas A&M Lions beat the Rice Owls 72-71 on Thursday night at Tudor Fieldhouse.
Diakite made 9 of 17 shots, including 3 of 7 from 3-point range, and added 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks in 34 minutes.
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Rice built an 11-point lead in the first half and was up 30-19 before East Texas A&M scored 13 straight points to go ahead 32-30. The Lions took a 37-32 lead into halftime. Rice outscored them 39-35 after the break but came up one point short in a game with 5 lead changes and 6 ties.
Bo Aldridge added 16 points and 4 assists for East Texas A&M, going 6 of 7 at the free-throw line. Alonzo Dodd had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
Jaxson Thompson led Rice with 14 points and made 6 of 7 free throws. Carmelo Adkins scored 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range, and Jacob Dar had 13 points and 7 rebounds.
Both teams shot 24 of 67 from the field. East Texas A&M won the rebounding battle 54-41, had 20 assists to Rice's 13 and outscored the Owls 12-4 on fast breaks. Rice committed 10 turnovers to the Lions' 15 and had a 26-24 edge in points in the paint.
East Texas A&M improved to 2-0. Rice fell to 1-1. The game drew 719 fans.
