Irvine, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team's quest for an upper division finish in the Big West took a bit of a hit Saturday evening, as UC Irvine used a 28-5 run spread across the first and second halves, to pick up a 79-60 victory over the Highlanders.

UCR (5-8) remains in seventh place in the conference, two-and-a-half games out of fourth place, currently occupied by both CSUN (7-5) and Cal State Fullerton (7-5).
 

2016-17 Big West Men's Basketball Standings
	Team	W	L
1	UC Irvine	9	3
2	UC Davis	8	4
3	Long Beach State	8	5
3	CSUN	7	5
5	Cal State Fullerton	7	5
6	Hawai'i	7	6
7	UC Riverside	5	8
8	Cal Poly	3	9
9	UC Santa Barbara	2	11

With three games remaining in the regular season, the Highlanders can still finish at 8-8 if they run the table—at UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, February 23, vs. Cal Poly on Saturday, February 25, and vs. UC Irvine on Wednesday, March 1.

Saturday, UC Riverside led almost the entirety of the first half, but the Anteaters closed the period on an 11-2 run to take a five-point edge into the locker room.

The Anteaters added to their lead coming out of the break, scoring 17 of the first 20 points of the half to push their advantage to 19, 48-29.

UC Riverside's defense, which has been its bread and butter throughout conference play, allowed UC Irvine to make 51.7 percent of its shots in the game, including 63.3 percent in the second half. That was the highest field goal percentage by a Highlanders' opponent since UCR allowed Denver to make 53.5 percent of its shots back on December 22, 2016.

Koh Flippin, Brandon Rossser and Dikymbe Martin each scored nine points for the Highlanders in the loss.

UC Irvine's Jaron Martin led all scorers with 26 points. He was joined in double figures by Eyassu Worku with 20, and Luke Nelson with 14.