UC Riverside
Eastern Washington
UCR Gets Closer, but Falls to Eastern Washington, 85-70
12/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
he Highlanders got closer, but faded down the stretch as the Eastern Washington University defeated host UC Riverside, 85-70, at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside Saturday.
Eastern Washington 4-3 while the Highlanders fell to 0-6.
EWU's Rodney Stuckey led all scorers with 30 points, hitting 10-of-12 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Kellen Williams had 17 points and Paul Butorac had 13 points and nine rebounds. For the Highlanders, senior guard Rickey Porter had a career-high 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting, and sophomore guard Larry Cunningham added 14 points and senior forward Steve Williams had 11 points off of the bench.
The Eagles shot 58.5% (31-of-53) from the field and committed 30 turnovers. The Highlanders were 39.1% (27-of-69) from the field. UCR struggled at the free throw line, hitting just 9-of-18 (50.0%).
UCR had their finest first half of the season, forcing the Eagles into 20 turnovers in the half and running the floor effectively. The Highlanders shot 42.4% (14-of-33) from the floor and were led by 10 points by Porter. The Eagles shot well when not turning the ball over, hitting 15-of-25 (60.0%) from the floor. UCR trailed by just two at the half, trailing 37-35 and missing a bid for the lead when a Cunningham three pointer rimmed out at the buzzer.
The Highlanders had an early lead in the second half, behind back-to-back threes by Porter to give UCR a 41-39 lead. UCR trailed by three with 9:25 left at 60-57, but the Eagles went on a 22-7 run over a seven-minute span to build the lead to 82-64 with 2:21 left. A Porter dunk at the buzzer made the final margin 15 at 85-70.
