Jesuit Dallas split the opening day of the MT Rice Tournament on Thursday at Midway Middle School in Hewitt, Texas. The Rangers finished second in pool play and will advance to the silver bracket, set to begin as the Rangers play Waco H.S. at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at Lorena High School.

The Rangers won their tournament opener against Nacogdoches, 56-48, before dropping a 59-52 decision to Hendrickson in the nightcap. Junior Gavin Perryman finished the two games with 35 points, scoring 20 in the first game before a 15-point performance against Hendrickson. Junior Cal Linn tacked on 14 points against Hendrickson, shooting 4-of-7 from behind the arc.

Seniors Eli Steger and Darryl Brown scored 15 and 10 points, respectively, against Nacodoches, tying for the team lead with seven rebounds each while junior Shane Hatzmann tacked on a team-leading four assists. Junior Conor Moore would add a team-leading seven rebounds against Hendrickson, scoring eight points.

Perryman hit a trio of three-pointers against Nacogdoches as the Rangers out-rebounded the Dragons, 30-23 and added seven offensive boards. Jesuit demonstrated impressive bal movement, evidenced by the team's 11 assists, while shooting 42.9 percent from the floor. Against Hendrickson, the two teams battled back and forth but Hendrickson forced 17 free-throw attempts compared to seven by Jesuit, which proved to be the difference in the game. The Rangers secured 20 total rebounds and shot 50 percent (21-of-42) from the field, but only converted 7-of-25 three-point attempts to finish the game with a 28 percent clip from behind the arc.