The UC Riverside men’s basketball team defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 71-56, Thursday night in the SRC Arena. Going into this ball game, the Highlanders lost two straight games by a wide margin. Looking to get back into the win column, UCR had a favorable matchup against a Mustang team that has yet to get its first win in conference play.
Cal Poly opened up the game with a 3-point basket by freshman guard Quentin Jones. UC Riverside was able to see some early shots go in the basket as graduate student forward Kyle Owens scored back-to-back buckets to give the Highlanders a 7-6 lead. Off the bench, redshirt freshman forward Kaleb Smith made an immediate impact with five quick points and a steal to extend the UCR lead to 16-7 at the 13:59 mark. The Mustangs started to go on a run to get back into the ball game, but another made jumper from Smith pushed the lead back up to six, 18-12. Junior center Ben Griscti started to find a rhythm as he knocked down two straight jumpshots to push the UCR lead into the double digits, 24-14, with 8:50 left in the first half.
Everytime UC Riverside went on a run to extend their lead, Cal Poly would respond with a run of their own to claw their way back into the game. The defense led the way by forcing turnovers on the Highlander offense, which gave them easy opportunities to score on the fastbreak. After getting a steal on redshirt sophomore guard Isaiah Moses, Jones was able to finish a layup on the fastbreak to cut the UCR lead down to three, 24-21, with 5:43 left until halftime. A couple possessions later, Smith was able to knock down another jumpshot to stop the Cal Poly run. Minutes later, Owens finished a layup in the paint to extend the UCR lead back to seven, 28-21. With seconds left in the first half, redshirt freshman guard Barrington Hargress knocked down a jump shot off of an offensive rebound to give UC Riverside a 32-23 lead at the half.
The Highlander offense came out firing to start the second half as buckets from Owens and Hargress gave UCR a 13-point lead. Once again, however, the Mustangs refused to let up and battled back into the game. It started with a 3-pointer from Jones to cut the lead to 10. Moments later, graduate student forward Tuukka Jaakkola got himself a bucket off of the fastbreak. After a turnover from Owens, junior guard Aidan Prukop sunk in a 3-pointer to cut it to a one-possession game, 36-33. Moses was able to answer back with back-to-back three-pointers to extend the UC Riverside lead back up to nine with just under four minutes played in the second half. Other players started to find a rhythm for UCR as Smith continued his stellar play by knocking down another 3-pointer to push the Highlander lead back into double digits. Tattersall also found openings in the defense to get easy layups as UC Riverside led 49-35 with 14:18 left in the game.
Both teams started to exchange scores as the game reached the halfway point of the second half. Pickens started to make an imprint in the game as after a missed jumper from Jaakkola, sophomore guard Nate Pickens grabbed the rebound and went coast-to-coast to finish the layup plus the foul to give the Highlanders a 15-point lead, 58-43. Pickens then went on a little run of his own as he drove to the basket and finished another layup with a couple of free throws on the ensuing possessions. Moses continued to be the steady point guard as he knocked down shot after shot down the stretch. After a missed jump shot from Jones, Moses came down the other way and sunk in his third 3-pointer of the night to give UCR their biggest lead of the night, 69-53. With time winding down, UC Riverside was able to get a comfortable win, 71-56.
Moses led the way for the Highlanders with 15 points and six rebounds. Off the bench, Smith continued to make an impact with 14 points and nine rebounds. Owens added another double-double to the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win. Four players scored in double-digits for the Highlanders in the victory.
The Highlanders improved their record to 7-10 (2-3) on the season and will go on the road to take on Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m.
