Colgate Holds On to Beat UCR, 59-56

Thursday, December 21

Riverside, CA

UC Riverside

Colgate

12/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

The UC Riverside Highlanders rallied back from a 11-point second half deficit, but lost their second heartbreaker in a row to the visiting Colgate Raiders, 59-56, in front of 352 fans at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside Thursday.

UCR to 3-8 overall, while Colgate is now 5-5.

Freshman forward Henrik Thomsen had a team-high 17 points in a full 40 minutes of play, but was the only Highlander to reach double-figures in points. Junior forward Larry Cunningham had nine points and sophomore forward Christian Soto had eight. Senior Justin Bell was 1-of-16 from the field and the Highlanders missed several scoring opportunities in the paint. UCR shot 32.8% from the field (21-of-64), their second worst percentage of the season and was 3-of-15 (20.0%) from beyond the arc.

Colgate's Kendall Chones had a career-high 23 points, shooting 8-of-15 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Willie Morse came off the bench to tally 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including three treys. Overall the Raiders shot 36.1% from the field (22-of-61).

The Raiders roared out of the gate in the second half behind Morse, who scored 10 straight points in under two minutes of play to build their lead from 26-25 to 36-27 with 14:46 remaining. The lead reached as much as 11 at 46-35 with 9:37 left, but then the Highlanders slowly began to chip away, outscoring the Raiders 15-4 to cut the margin to one at 50-49 with 3:01 left. UCR would take the lead for the first time with 1:22 left when Thomsen drilled a three pointer to make it 54-53, but the Raiders' Alex Woodhouse put them back on top with a put-back dunk with 1:01 remaining.

Morse struck again for another three to make the lead four with 21 seconds left, but Thomsen answered with a 15-footer of his own to cut the margin to two at 58-56. UCR fouled Morse with nine seconds left, but he only made one of the two charity shots. UCR got the rebound and called time-out to set up a play in hopes of tying the game, but the Raiders stifled the play, and a desperation three by Cunningham at the buzzer was well short.

Leading 18-16 on a layup by Soto, UCR went ice cold in the final 6:32 of the half, missing eight attempts and committing two turnovers. However Colgate was struggled as well and UCR hit their last five free throws to trail just 24-23 entering the half. Neither team shot well, with Colgate shooting just 9-of-30 (30.0%) while the Highlanders were just 8-of-29 (27.6%).