HOUSTON, Texas – The University of Hartford men's basketball team improved to 6-5 on the season after scoring an impressive 58-51 victory on the road at Rice University on Saturday evening at Tudor Fieldhouse. Sophomore duo and Texas natives Yolonzo Moore II and Mark Nwakamma paced the Hawks' in the triumph, scoring 13 points each in front of a large hometown crowd.

The first-ever meeting with Rice capped-off a span of four-straight road games for the Hawks, a 10-day stretch that they split at 2-2 with tonight's win and last week's victory at Fairleigh Dickinson.

Also joining the sophomore pair in double digit scoring was freshman Taylor Dyson, who came off the bench to match his career-high of 10 points after going 4-of-6 from the floor in just 11 minutes of action. Classmates Parker U'u and Evan Cooper each snagged a career-best seven rebounds to help the Hawks earn their sixth non-league win, the most since 2006-07.

Rice (2-7) was led by Tamir Jackson's 18 points and seven rebounds. Julian DeBose accompanied Jackson in double figures with 11 points, adding three assists and three blocks to that number.

The Hawks got off to a slow start on both ends of the floor. After leading 5-4 at the 17:42 mark, they fell behind as Rice used a 7-0 spurt to grab an 11-5 advantage. Sophomore Jamie Schneck made it an 11-7 game after dropping in a hook shot but the Owls responded with five unanswered points to push ahead by nine points at 16-7 with 12:39 remaining.

Hartford continued to struggle offensively and went down by as much as 11 with 8:54 to go until halftime before clawing back into the game by first picking up the intensity on the defensive side of the court. The Hawks held the Owls without a field goal for more than nine minutes and started to heat up offensively, scoring 15 of the next 17 points to come back and claim the lead at 24-22.

Schneck sparked that run while sophomore Taylor Dyson drained a long three-pointer to bring Hartford within six points at the 3:46 mark. Following a layup by Rice's Julian DeBose, Hartford's hands got hot, making four of its next five field goal attempts to put together a 10-0 run. During that rally, Nwakamma and Dyson each contributed five points, including a pair of threes, to put their team ahead for the first time since two minutes out of the opening tip.

Rice responded with four unanswered points to regain the lead before U'u hit his first career field goal, a three-pointer, to put the Hawks ahead at 27-26. A Tamir Jackson free throw with 40 seconds left sent both teams into the halftime break tied at 27 points apiece.

During that first half, the Hawks did not make one trip to the charity stripe while the Owls visited the line 12 times, scoring nearly one-third of their points (8) on freebies.

The second stanza was similar to the first, with the lead exchanging hands five times before Hartford went ahead for good.

With Hartford leading, 38-35, at the 12:59 mark, Rice scored seven unanswered points to reclaim the advantage at 42-37.

Moore's second three-ball of the night ended the Owls' run and cut the Hawks' deficit to a single point before Rice pushed ahead by three (44-41)  on a bucket by Tamir Jackson with 7:01 to go.

That field goal would be the last for the Owls for the next five and a half minutes, however, as the Hawks exploded for a 12-0 run and grabbed their largest lead of the game, nine points, at 53-44 with 1:48 remaining on the clock.

Sophomore Corban Wroe got that rally going with a layup and Moore took over the game, scoring seven unanswered points over a stretch of two and a half minutes. Cooper capped off the run making three of four free throw attempts provide his team with a comfortable lead going down the stretch.

For just the second time this season, Hartford won the battle of the boards, grabbing eight more rebounds than Rice (36-28). Twenty of the Hawks' points came off of Owls' turnovers while Hartford's bench provided 26 points on the evening. The Hawks shot 41.2-percent (21-of-51) and held Rice to 37.5-percent (18-of-48) shooting.

Following a 21-day absence, Hartford returns home for just the second time this month when it welcomes the Marist Red Foxes to Chase Family Arena on Sat., Dec. 22 (3:30 p.m.).