Robert McKiver exploded for 52 points last night as the Houston Cougars (21-6, 10-3) ripped apart Southern Mississippi (15-12, 7-6) for a much need 95-67 win. McKiver's 52 points was the most by a NCAA Division I men's player for this season and was also a C-USA and Hofheinz Pavilion record, breaking the mark set by Indiana's Larry Bird (1977) and UNLV's Bob Florence (1973). For the night, McKiver was 17-for-34 from the field......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • Two men were rescued from the Gulf of Mexico 130 miles southeast of Galveston when their helicopter crashed. • Deer Park resident and former Astros pitcher, Andy Pettitte, admitted to using a human growth hormone during his recovery from an elbow injury in 2002. • During future evacuations and before boarding public transportation criminal background checks will be standard operating procedure to......

Roger freakin' Clemens, y'all. Don't even get us started. But even if you want to call him a traitor, you gotta admit the man can pitch, and so can the guys up for the award named after him, the Clemens Award, which is presented annually to the top pitcher in college baseball. Three Rice students are on the official watch-list for the award this year. ESPN Top-100 prospect Joe Savery (with a record of 6-1......

Bobby May, the longtime athletics director at Rice, announced yesterday he'll be retiring this summer, ending a 45-year relationship with the school. May graduated from Rice in 1965 and returned two years later as an assistant track coach and assistant business manager, eventually working his way up to associate athletics director in 1984 and AD in 1989. Back then, things weren't going so well for Rice athletics: "I desperately wanted the AD job in 1989,......

Less than 12 hours after he insisted he would return for a 13th season as head football coach at Rice, Ken Hatfield resigned Tuesday night. Hatfield and Rice were reportedly talking about a contract buyout even as Hatfield told the world he planned to keep his position. It's that defensive strategy that drove the Owls to seven losing seasons in the last eight years, leading to a 14-game losing streak and a 1-10 record this......