Cougars feast on Rice
By Jake McKim
Daily Cougar Staff
With 7.1 seconds remaining, senior guard
Dominic Smith hustled the ball up the court, stopped at the top of the
three-point line, and with
the poise of a seasoned veteran swished
the most important shot of the young season for the Cougars.
Kevin Harwerth/The Daily
Cougar
Senior guard Dominic Smith
drives to the basket during the Cougar's game against crosstown rival Rice
on Thursday night at Hofheinz
Pavilion. Smith hit a trey at the buzzer
for the winning basket.
After losing 65-45 to crosstown rival
Rice last season, the Cougars were searching for redemption. Riding on
the energy of a hyped
home crowd, the Cougars got sweet revenge,
knocking off the Owls 62-61 on Smith's last-second shot.
"I was gonna drive the ball and dish it
off to George (Williams) or Marcus (Oliver) but the guy backed up off me
and I took it," Smith said
after the game. "It was a good shot. You
live or die by it."
After nailing the three, Rice freshman
point guard Jason McKreith heaved the ball downcourt but Smith intercepted
it and the game was
over.
It was easy to get swept up in the excitement
after the buzzer sounded. When the crowd exploded with cheers, Smith leaped
onto the
press table and UH head coach Ray McCallum
sprinted toward the stands to give high-fives to as many fans as possible.
"Smith has a tremendous amount of guts
and pride," McCallum said. "I think fans appreciate great effort. Hopefully
people had fun
tonight."
What many in the crowd didn't know was
Smith almost didn't play after suffering a badly twisted ankle the day
before.
"He (Smith) couldn't even walk yesterday,"
McCallum said. "I slept maybe like three hours last night. I had the worst
night since I've been
in Houston. But I got a call from him
this morning saying 'Coach I can do it' so I knew he would push through."
It was a back-and-forth battle for much
of the night, with neither team able to build a commanding lead, but Rice
seemed to be in control
late in the contest. The Cougars found
themselves down 57-53 with 3:37 remaining. The Cougars fought back to within
two, 61-59 with
54 seconds remaining. After two unproductive
possessions, the Cougars were forced to foul guard Michael Harris.
The freshman missed, and after the Cougars
called timeout, Smith was able to get off his winning shot, his career-high
23rd point of the
night. The Cougars had four players in
double figures with Louis Truscott, George Williams and Patrick Okafor
all contributing 11 points.
Rice was led by junior guard Omar-Seli
Mance, who scored 17 points. Harris and McKrieth added 15 and 13 respectively.
"We took small steps tonight," Rice head
coach Willis Wilson said. "We're a young team that is getting better but
we have to learn to be a
little more poised."
It was a satisfying victory for the Cougars
who wanted this game not only to move their record to 2-2, but they needed
to receive an
injection of pride and confidence for
the remainder of the season.
"Coach reminded us all week that Rice wasn't
giving us respect," Smith said. "I think we earned it tonight."
The victorious Cougars next take on North
Texas at 2 p.m. Sunday at Hofheinz Pavilion.
