Saturday, January 24
Long Beach, CA
7:00 PM
University of California, Riverside
64
at
55
Long Beach State
Christian Soto scored 6 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in the Highlanders win at Long Beach State
Photo by: Bobby R. Hester, (c) 2009
Highlanders Upend Previously Unbeaten Long Beach State
1/26/2009 11:30:20 AM | Men's Basketball
End 21-Game Conference Road Losing Streak In The Process
Box Score
Long Beach, CA – It’s been a while, but UC Riverside’s Men’s Basketball Team finally tasted victory on a Big West opponent’s floor with a 64-55 win over Long Beach State on Saturday evening. The last conference road win for the Highlanders (11-7, 3-3) came on February 4, 2006 in a 78-73 overtime win at Cal State Fullerton. The win also gave the Highlanders 11 wins on the year tying the team record for wins in a season since the program moved to Division I.
The keys to the game were free throws and defense for UC Riverside, both of which ran counter to their recent outings. Since starting conference play at the beginning of the year, the Highlanders have averaged just 10.3 trips to the line, but they passed that threshold with just over five minutes remaining in the first half on their way to a 18-24 effort on the night.
It had also been six games since UC Riverside held an opponent below 40 percent shooting and below 60 points. Long Beach connected on just 33.3 percent of their shots Saturday night, and managed just 55 points. The Highlanders also held LBSU’s (10-8, 5-1) leading scorer, Donovan Morris to seven points – 10 points below his season average.
Neither team had much success in the early going as the Highlanders missed their first 7 shots and the Beach missconnected on their first 11. Aaron Scott finally ended the UCR drought with just over five minutes gone in the half, and UCR built a 5-0 lead before the Beach finally connected on their first basket with 13:28 left in the first.
That basket got things rolling for Long Beach State as they proceeded to connect on six of their next 7 shots to build a 14-7 lead. The Highlanders early shooting woes were compounded by 11 first-half turnovers compared to just 3 for the Beach.
But UCR was able to hang in the game in the first thanks to a renewed effort at getting to the free throw line. They made 9 of 11 in the period and trailed by just one, 25-24, heading into the locker room.
Sean Cunningham got the Highlanders off on the right foot with a breakaway dunk and the Highlanders never trailed the rest of the way pushing the lead to as many as 10 points.
Kyle Austin led UCR with 17 points while Javon Borum added 14 and Christian Soto grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds.
Long Beach, CA – It’s been a while, but UC Riverside’s Men’s Basketball Team finally tasted victory on a Big West opponent’s floor with a 64-55 win over Long Beach State on Saturday evening. The last conference road win for the Highlanders (11-7, 3-3) came on February 4, 2006 in a 78-73 overtime win at Cal State Fullerton. The win also gave the Highlanders 11 wins on the year tying the team record for wins in a season since the program moved to Division I.
The keys to the game were free throws and defense for UC Riverside, both of which ran counter to their recent outings. Since starting conference play at the beginning of the year, the Highlanders have averaged just 10.3 trips to the line, but they passed that threshold with just over five minutes remaining in the first half on their way to a 18-24 effort on the night.
It had also been six games since UC Riverside held an opponent below 40 percent shooting and below 60 points. Long Beach connected on just 33.3 percent of their shots Saturday night, and managed just 55 points. The Highlanders also held LBSU’s (10-8, 5-1) leading scorer, Donovan Morris to seven points – 10 points below his season average.
Neither team had much success in the early going as the Highlanders missed their first 7 shots and the Beach missconnected on their first 11. Aaron Scott finally ended the UCR drought with just over five minutes gone in the half, and UCR built a 5-0 lead before the Beach finally connected on their first basket with 13:28 left in the first.
That basket got things rolling for Long Beach State as they proceeded to connect on six of their next 7 shots to build a 14-7 lead. The Highlanders early shooting woes were compounded by 11 first-half turnovers compared to just 3 for the Beach.
But UCR was able to hang in the game in the first thanks to a renewed effort at getting to the free throw line. They made 9 of 11 in the period and trailed by just one, 25-24, heading into the locker room.
Sean Cunningham got the Highlanders off on the right foot with a breakaway dunk and the Highlanders never trailed the rest of the way pushing the lead to as many as 10 points.
Kyle Austin led UCR with 17 points while Javon Borum added 14 and Christian Soto grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds.
Day in the Life: Leilani Juan
Monday, May 04
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
