Anaheim, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team went toe-to-toe with #3 seed UC Irvine Thursday evening in the First Round of the Big West Conference Tournament, but the Anteaters went on a 12-1 run late in the game to escape with a 63-54 victory.

Despite the loss, the Highlanders enjoyed one of their most successful Division I seasons to date, tying for the second most overall wins and second most conference wins in their 15 years in the Big West.

Neither team led by more then four points throughout the first 36-plus minutes of play, until the 'Eaters turned a three-point UC Riverside lead into an eight-point 'Eaters advantage with 1:58 to go.

Defense was the name of the game throughout the evening, with the Highlanders shooting 35.5 percent from the floor and UC Irvine connecting on 42.0 percent. The Anteaters were particularly tough on the perimeter as the Highlanders made just two of 17 shots from three-point range. Jaylen Bland, who led the conference in made three-pointers on the year, was just one for seven from long distance.

UC Riverside made up for that deficit by committing just six turnovers to 10 for Irvine, and dominating inside, outscoring the Anteaters 30-18 in the paint.

Taylor Johns recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Two of those points came on a thunderous dunk in the second half over UC Irvine's 7-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye. Austin Quick, Steven Thornton and Alex Larsson each added eight points.

Will Davis II posted a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Anteaters, while Luke Nelson chipped in with 14 points, 11 of which came in the second half. Ten of the last 12 Anteaters points came from the charity stripe, where they outscored the Highlanders 14-6.