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No. 20 Texas edges Rice

Nov 28, 2010 - 12:47 AM Austin, TX (Sports Network) - Cory Joseph scored 14 points and Jordan Hamilton added 13 points as 20th-ranked Texas held off Rice, 62-59.

Tristan Thompson provided 10 points and 10 rebounds and Gary Johnson supplied eight points and six boards for the Longhorns (5-1), who have won two in a row after suffering their only loss of the season to Pittsburgh last Friday.

Texas has won 22 straight non-conference games at the Erwin Center and is 67-2 in non-conference games on home hardwood since the start of the 2002-03 campaign.

Arsalan Kazemi totaled 13 points and eight rebounds while Cory Pflieger and Tamir Jackson each scored 12 points for the Owls (3-3), who have lost all three of their road contests.

"I thought our guys played hard today," Rice head coach Ben Braun said. We had some opportunities to step up and maybe if we could defensively rebound a little tougher, get out on a couple of shots, maybe things go differently. It was just one of those games where you wish you had maybe one more possession at the end."

Hamilton's triple gave the Longhorns the lead for good at 42-39 with 10 1/2 minutes to play.

Trailing 49-41, Rice pulled to within 50-49 on a Lucas Kuipers three-pointer with 5:40 to go before the hosts scored six of the next eight points.

Two Kazemi free throws cut the Texas lead to 58-57 before Joseph's layup with 37 ticks left pushed the lead back to three. Free throws by Thompson and Hamilton in the final 10 seconds sewed up the victory for the Longhorns.

Matt Hill's jump shot gave Texas a 19-12 advantage with just over seven minutes to go in the half before Rice ran off the next 10 points to grab a three-point lead on a Pflieger three-pointer with 2:17 remaining.

The Owls took a 23-20 lead into the intermission.

"I thought that of all the teams that we have played this year that Rice did the best job executing on their offensive end," Texas head coach Rick Barnes said. "This game was good for us. We needed a game like this because it still got down to where we are going to have to make some stops."

Game Notes

Texas made 20 field goals, 11 of which came from beyond the arc on 25 tries...All four of Hamilton's made field goals came from three-point territory...He has scored in double figures in each game this season and in 24 of his 40 career games...Joseph also made four triples...All four of Pflieger's made field goals were three-pointers...Rice was 6-for-15 shooting threes...Texas leads the all-time series, 134-59.