University of California, Riverside
Loyola Marymount
Austin Scores 20 In Highlanders 59-52 Win Over Loyola Marymount
12/15/2008 2:39:43 PM | Men's Basketball
(Los Angeles, CA) – In his first action as a Highlander, sophomore transfer Kyle Austin scored a game-high 20 points as UCR’S men’s basketball team improved to 6-2 on the year with a 59-52 win at Loyola Marymount. Not only was it Austin’s first appearance as a Highlander, but he also earned his first start after missing UCR’s first seven games due to NCAA transfer rules, and as it turned out, the Highlanders needed every point.
Early in the game, LaRon Armistead was the only Lions player doing any damage as he scored all of Loyola Marymount’s first 7 points. In the meantime, the rest of the Lions missed their first 12 shots, failing to connect on a field goal attempt until 8:29 remaining in the first. That Jarred DuBois basket ended a 9-0 run for the Highlanders and cut the UCR lead to 16-9.
The Highlanders expanded their lead to 11 at 22-11 with 5:50 to go in the period, but the Lions scored 11 of the final 13 points of the half reducing the UCR lead to two. Austin had 12 of the Highlanders 24 first-half points connecting on 4 of 7 shots including 2 of 5 from three-point range.
In the second half, the Highlanders slowly extended their lead pushing it back out to 11 on an Aaron Scott free throw with 7:03 to go. Loyola Marymount kept things interesting cutting the lead to six on several occasions down the stretch, but two Austin buckets with 1:07 to go pushed the lead back to double-digits and the Highlanders had their sixth win of the year in hand.
On the night, Austin made 8 of 15 shots and also paced UCR in rebounds with seven. Aaron Scott added nine points and six rebounds.
NOTES
The Highlanders took 27 three pointers on the night including16 in the first half. Prior to tonight’s game, the most threes UCR had launched in a game was 17 in the season-opening loss to New Mexico State.
With the win Monday over Loyola Marymount, the Highlanders are now four games over .500 for the first time since the team transitioned to Division I. The last time UCR was four games or more over .500 was towards the end of the 1999-2000 campaign when they were five games over at 15-10.
UCR now has two non-conference road wins for only the second time as a Division I program. The first came in 2007 when the Highlanders topped both Idaho and UC Davis, which had yet to join the Big West.
UCR’s win over the Lions at Gersten Pavilion was their first road win of the series. They are now 1-2 at Loyola and a perfect 3-0 at UC Riverside.
