Riverside, CA – After leading for most of the first half against CSUN (4-14, 1-3) on Wednesday night, the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team (5-14, 0-5) got cold offensively down the stretch en route to a 66-57 defeat.

KEY RUNS
The Highlanders trailed for just 50 seconds in the opening 20 minutes thanks to a hot start by guard DJ Sylvester, who led all players with 15 points on 3-of-5 (.600) shooting from deep at the halftime break.

UCR led 31-27 in the opening minute of the second half, but CSUN would take over from there. The Matadors answered with a 28-10 run over the next 13 minutes to take a 55-41 lead, their largest of the game. The lead would not go below 9 points the rest of the way.

GAME NOTES
Redshirt senior guard Chance Murray poured in 15 second half points, leading all Highlanders with 17 points for the game. He finished with his second-highest totals this season in both points (17) and rebounds (8).

Sylvester ended the day with 15 points, all of which came in the first half. The sophomore knocked down three triples for the second time in his career, starting the game 3-of-4 from deep in the first half and finishing 3-of-6.

UC Riverside out-rebounded its opponent for the second time during conference play (37-35), but shot just 26.1% (6-23) from three-point range, compared to 41.2% (7-17) for the Matadors.

The Highlanders also had their most efficient outing of the year from the free throw line, making 10 in a row to start the game and finishing 17-of-19 (.895). Murray went a perfect 10-of-10 from the stripe, setting a new career-high for free throws made.

UCR will head back on the road for its next game at UC Irvine on Wednesday, Jan. 24.