Saturday, February 2
Riverside, CA
2:02 PM
UC Riverside
62
vs
58
Cal Poly
Photo by: Bobby R. Hester, (c) 2009
Jalonni Diggs' Career-High 16 Points Lead Men's Basketball To Win Over Cal Poly
2/2/2008 3:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Riverside—UC Riverside beat the Cal Poly Mustangs 62-58 in front of a season-high 1012 fans at the Student Rec Center Saturday afternoon. Freshman Jalonni Diggs finished with a career-high 16 points for the Highlanders who improved to 5-15 overall and 2-7 in the Big West with the victory.
UCR earned the Big West win while the game was broadcast on Fox Sports Network Prime Ticket.
Another night of tough defense by the Highlanders holding a good Cal Poly (8-12, 3-5 Big West) squad to 58 points on 38.2% shooting including 2-of-16 (12.5%) from three-point land. The Highlanders meanwhile, received double-digit scoring efforts from four different players as they knocked down seven three's and won the battle on the boards 41-27.
Both teams came out answering each other's baskets in the opening minutes before Cal Poly grabbed a 19-18 lead at the 9:04 mark. The Highlanders then erupted to close out the first half with a 18-5 run, started on a three by junior Severin Gates at 8:23. The UCR defense stepped up and began to clamp down on the Mustang offense, forcing tough shots therefore allowing the Highlander offense to relax. The offense did just that, as they started to hit their open shots and attacked the basket eventually opening up their largest lead of the half on back-to-back threes by junior Cleavon Barlow and freshman Jalonni Diggs to put the Highlanders up 29-21 at the 4:47 mark.
The hot shooting continued to finish out the half, as a Gates took a beautiful pass through two Mustang defenders from junior Aaron Scott and laid it up and in to continue the run. Barlow followed with a steal on the next CPU possession in which he jumped over the scorer's table to save the ball for the Highlanders. On the ensuing play, Larry Cunningham knocked down a three from the left corner and Gates then added another jumper to give UCR a 36-22 lead with under two minutes left until the break. Cal Poly added two free-throws before the break to go into the half down 36-24.
Larry Cunningham led all scorers with 10 first-half points as UCR shot 13-of-27 (48.1%) including 6-of-10 from behind the arc. Chaz Thomas led the Mustangs with nine points as Cal Poly finished the first 20 minutes shooting 9-for-24 (37.5%) from the floor.
Cal Poly would rally back, taking advantage of some UCR shots that rolled in and out allowing the Mustangs to cut the Highlander lead to 44-42 a the 9:24 mark.
UCR held tough using consecutive buckets by sophomore Sean Cunningham and Diggs to open up a 54-48 advantage with 2:02 left on the clock. Cal Poly followed with a basket at 1:46 to cut it to 54-50 Highlanders, but two made free-throws by Scott re-opened up the six-point cushion, 56-50 with 1:18 remaining.
Two more UCR free-throws, this time by Diggs, made it 58-52 with 47 seconds left. Each team would trade fouls and both squads would make their opportunities at the stripe. Two makes by Larry Cunningham at the line with 19 seconds left sealed up the win for the Highlanders who made 17-of-19 from the stripe throughout the game.
Thomas and Titus Shelton put up 19 and 13 points respectively for the Mustangs.
Eight different UC Riverside players recorded baskets with Larry Cunningham and Gates each finishing with 12 points and Barlow added 10 points. Scott, Barlow, and Gates also all finished with eight boards.
UCR is off until February 13th when they travel down to face Long Beach State.
UCR earned the Big West win while the game was broadcast on Fox Sports Network Prime Ticket.
Another night of tough defense by the Highlanders holding a good Cal Poly (8-12, 3-5 Big West) squad to 58 points on 38.2% shooting including 2-of-16 (12.5%) from three-point land. The Highlanders meanwhile, received double-digit scoring efforts from four different players as they knocked down seven three's and won the battle on the boards 41-27.
Both teams came out answering each other's baskets in the opening minutes before Cal Poly grabbed a 19-18 lead at the 9:04 mark. The Highlanders then erupted to close out the first half with a 18-5 run, started on a three by junior Severin Gates at 8:23. The UCR defense stepped up and began to clamp down on the Mustang offense, forcing tough shots therefore allowing the Highlander offense to relax. The offense did just that, as they started to hit their open shots and attacked the basket eventually opening up their largest lead of the half on back-to-back threes by junior Cleavon Barlow and freshman Jalonni Diggs to put the Highlanders up 29-21 at the 4:47 mark.
The hot shooting continued to finish out the half, as a Gates took a beautiful pass through two Mustang defenders from junior Aaron Scott and laid it up and in to continue the run. Barlow followed with a steal on the next CPU possession in which he jumped over the scorer's table to save the ball for the Highlanders. On the ensuing play, Larry Cunningham knocked down a three from the left corner and Gates then added another jumper to give UCR a 36-22 lead with under two minutes left until the break. Cal Poly added two free-throws before the break to go into the half down 36-24.
Larry Cunningham led all scorers with 10 first-half points as UCR shot 13-of-27 (48.1%) including 6-of-10 from behind the arc. Chaz Thomas led the Mustangs with nine points as Cal Poly finished the first 20 minutes shooting 9-for-24 (37.5%) from the floor.
Cal Poly would rally back, taking advantage of some UCR shots that rolled in and out allowing the Mustangs to cut the Highlander lead to 44-42 a the 9:24 mark.
UCR held tough using consecutive buckets by sophomore Sean Cunningham and Diggs to open up a 54-48 advantage with 2:02 left on the clock. Cal Poly followed with a basket at 1:46 to cut it to 54-50 Highlanders, but two made free-throws by Scott re-opened up the six-point cushion, 56-50 with 1:18 remaining.
Two more UCR free-throws, this time by Diggs, made it 58-52 with 47 seconds left. Each team would trade fouls and both squads would make their opportunities at the stripe. Two makes by Larry Cunningham at the line with 19 seconds left sealed up the win for the Highlanders who made 17-of-19 from the stripe throughout the game.
Thomas and Titus Shelton put up 19 and 13 points respectively for the Mustangs.
Eight different UC Riverside players recorded baskets with Larry Cunningham and Gates each finishing with 12 points and Barlow added 10 points. Scott, Barlow, and Gates also all finished with eight boards.
UCR is off until February 13th when they travel down to face Long Beach State.
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UCR Student-Athletes cheer on our students.
Friday, May 01
UCR Athletics Director Introductory Full Press Conference
Tuesday, March 24
Athletics Director Greg Paules Introductory Presentation Recap
Tuesday, March 24
