Wednesday, November 13
Riverside, CA
7:00 PM
University of California, Riverside
66
vs
69
Pepperdine
Photo by: Gabriel L. Acosta
Men's Basketball Drops Nail-Biter, 69-66, To Visiting Pepperdine
11/13/2013 9:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Riverside—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team opened its 2013-14 home schedule Wednesday evening against Pepperdine, dropping a nail-biter to the Waves, 69-66 (Box Score).
Pepperdine built an eight-point lead, 40-32, at the half thanks to 54.2 percent (13 of 24) shooting from the field and six of eight from beyond the arc. The Highlanders, meanwhile hit 43.8 of their shots making just two of 11 from three-point range.
Jeremy Major paced the Waves with 10 points in the first 20 minutes of play, including five straight during a 9-0 Pepperdine run midway through the first, that turned a one-point UC Riverside lead into an eight-point Waves advantage.
Pepperdine's Stacey Davis scored the first five points after intermission to give the Waves their largest lead of the night.
The Highlanders countered with a 14-3 run immediately thereafter to cut the deficit to two, and it remained a two-possession game for most of the second half. It was a five-point Waves advantage with 3:38 to go, when Steven Jones converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the lead to two.
Five possessions later, after forcing a Pepperdine turnover, Steven Thornton drilled a jumper to tie the score at 63 with 53 seconds remaining. On the next Waves possession, Davis hit two free throws, and following a Chris Harriel miss from long distance, Nikolas Skouen made a pair from the charity stripe to push the lead to four.
After a Chris Patton jumper, Skouen connected on two more freebies with five seconds to go to give him 10 points off the bench and effectively end the ballgame.
Davis scored 17 of his game-high 23 points after the break while Skouen, Major and Brendan Lane each added 10. Harriel led four Highlanders in double-digits with 15 followed by Taylor Johns with 13, Patton with 12 and Lucas Devnney with a career-high 10 points on a perfect five-for-five shooting night from the field.
UC Riverside remains at home this week hosting Montana State on Saturday for Homecoming. Tip is slated for 4 pm PT.
Pepperdine built an eight-point lead, 40-32, at the half thanks to 54.2 percent (13 of 24) shooting from the field and six of eight from beyond the arc. The Highlanders, meanwhile hit 43.8 of their shots making just two of 11 from three-point range.
Jeremy Major paced the Waves with 10 points in the first 20 minutes of play, including five straight during a 9-0 Pepperdine run midway through the first, that turned a one-point UC Riverside lead into an eight-point Waves advantage.
Pepperdine's Stacey Davis scored the first five points after intermission to give the Waves their largest lead of the night.
The Highlanders countered with a 14-3 run immediately thereafter to cut the deficit to two, and it remained a two-possession game for most of the second half. It was a five-point Waves advantage with 3:38 to go, when Steven Jones converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the lead to two.
Five possessions later, after forcing a Pepperdine turnover, Steven Thornton drilled a jumper to tie the score at 63 with 53 seconds remaining. On the next Waves possession, Davis hit two free throws, and following a Chris Harriel miss from long distance, Nikolas Skouen made a pair from the charity stripe to push the lead to four.
After a Chris Patton jumper, Skouen connected on two more freebies with five seconds to go to give him 10 points off the bench and effectively end the ballgame.
Davis scored 17 of his game-high 23 points after the break while Skouen, Major and Brendan Lane each added 10. Harriel led four Highlanders in double-digits with 15 followed by Taylor Johns with 13, Patton with 12 and Lucas Devnney with a career-high 10 points on a perfect five-for-five shooting night from the field.
UC Riverside remains at home this week hosting Montana State on Saturday for Homecoming. Tip is slated for 4 pm PT.
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