Riverside—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team opened preseason play Friday evening with a, 70-59, victory over visiting Point Loma Nazarene (box score/play by play).

The Highlanders' starting guard duo of 2015 Big West newcomer of the year Jaylen Bland and junior transfer Gentrey Thomas combined to score 34 points on the night. Thomas, in particular, was impressive in his UC Riverside debut scoring 16 points on seven of 11 shooting from the floor and adding four steals.

Another newcomer to the squad, Secean Johnson, added 15 points on four of nine shooting, and got to the line nine times, making seven. Robert Boezeman led the Highlanders' inside game with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Alex Larsson grabbed a game-high 11 boards.

It took a while for UC Riverside, who was without the services of last year's leading scorer Taylor Johns, to find its collective rhythm. The Highlanders trailed by four, 18-14, with 8:04 to go in the first half, but a pair of Bland three balls book-ended a 13-0 run to help UC Riverside take control of the game.

The Sea Lions made a bit of a run in the second, but the Highlanders strung together another 9-0 run midway through the second, and were never seriously threatened the rest of the way.

UC Riverside opens regular season play on Saturday, November 14 with a Homecoming 2015 match up against William Jessup. Tip is slated for 4 pm PT. Johns is expected to play in next week's season-opener.