Riverside, CA – Career nights from juniors Idy Diallo and Koh Flippin nearly gave the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team (5-17, 0-8) its first Big West win of the season at Cal Poly (6-16, 1-7) on Wednesday night. However, a go-ahead jumper by Cal Poly guard Donovan Fields with 12 seconds to go helped give the Mustangs the edge in a tightly contested 71-68 victory.
KEY RUNS
A close game throughout, Cal Poly opened the second half with a three-pointer to take its largest lead of the night, 41-34.
Refusing to let the Mustangs pull away, the Highlanders repeatedly found answers with timely shooting. That included a stretch with under 9 minutes to go where the visitors hit a three on three consecutive trips down – two coming from DJ Sylvester and another from Flippin – to give UCR a slim 61-58 advantage.
With the game tied 65-65 with under three minutes remaining, Diallo made 3-of-4 free throws on back-to-back trips to put UCR back up by three. After the Mustangs cut it to one on a pair of free throws with under a minute to go, Fields would go on to put the home side ahead for good on his pull-up jumper with 12 seconds left.
GAME NOTES
Filling in at center for the injured Alex Larsson (ankle), Idy Diallo set new career-highs with 17 points (7-11 FG) in 27 minutes on the floor. Earning his first career start, the Senegal native also added 8 rebounds, his third-highest total as a Highlander.
Koh Flippin came off the bench to put together one of the best performances of his career, reaching double-figures in scoring for the first time with 11 points on 4-of-6 (.667) shooting overall and 3-of-5 (.600) from three-point range. Logging a season-high 20 minutes, Flippin also tied a career-high with 3 assists.
The Highlanders had one of their most efficient offensive nights of the year, setting a new conference season-high with a 48.1 percent mark from the field and connecting on 39.1 percent of their shots from beyond the arc (9-23 3FG). The Highlanders have now made at least nine triples in two straight games, after doing so just once in their first 20 contests.
Less than a week after notching his first career double-double, Chance Murray wasn't a huge force in the scoring department (7 points), but still managed to impact the game with another all-around performance. The redshirt senior finished with 9 assists and 6 rebounds while tallying the Highlanders' only block of the night. He now has 20 assists over his last two outings.
As a team, UCR finished with 17 assists, good for its second-highest total during Big West play.
Aside from the final minute of play which saw UC Riverside record three turnovers, both teams were extremely clean with the ball. The Highlanders had just 9 giveaways – good for their third-lowest total of the year – while Cal Poly had just 5, tying a UCR opponent season-low.
The Mustangs enjoyed a sizable advantage from the charity stripe, going 20-of-27 (.741) at the line. UCR finished 7-of-11 (.636) on free throws for the second consecutive game.
After connecting on his first shot attempt in the opening minutes, redshirt sophomore DJ Sylvester remained quiet until the second half, when he poured in nine of his 11 points. He ended the day an efficient 3-of-6 (.500) from the field and 2-of-3 (.667) from range.
The Highlanders will return to action when they play their second straight on the road next Wednesday, February 7 at Hawaii.
