NORFOLK, Va. -- B.J. Stith had 18 points and Old Dominion opened Conference USA play with a 62-56 win over Rice on Saturday.

Zoran Talley had 12 points off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting and Brandan Stith had 10 rebounds to go with nine points.

The Monarchs (8-5) struggled down the stretch. But a free throw by Brandan Stith with 1:07 to play, and a layup by Jordan Baker 38 seconds after the Owls missed two free throws, gave ODU a 62-55 lead -- the largest of the game.

Rice (10-3) led 31-30 at the half, and back-to-back layups by Austin Meyer and a jumper by Marcus Evans with 15:46 to play gave the Owls their biggest lead at 40-34. A 3-pointer by Ahmad Caver, followed by dunks from Brandan Stith and Caver put the Monarchs up for good 51-47 at the 8:13 mark.

Rice missed its last five shots and made just one of its last nine, finishing at 37 percent shooting. Egor Koulechov scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds.