Riverside—The UC riverside Men's Basketball Team improved to 5-2 on the season Thursday evening with a 77-66 victory over visiting Northern Colorado. The victory helped the Highlanders keep pace with the 2008-09 squad for the best record through seven games in the program's Division I history.

A 17-2 run midway through the fist half helped UCR turn a five-point edge into a 20-point advantage and allowed the Highlanders to coast the rest of the way. They connected on 61.9 percent of their field goal attempts over the first 20 minutes of action en route to a 48-25 halftime lead.

UC Riverside led by as many as 28 in the second half, but the Bears scored 25 of the final 33 points to male things interesting. Jordan Wilson and Jordan Davis combined to score 34 points after the break to lead the Northern Colorado comeback. Davis finished with a game-high 22 points while Wilson added 20.

The Highlanders first-half onslaught proved to be too much, however. Jaylen Bland scored 11 before the intermission, and Robert Boezeman chipped in with nine. Bland finished with a team-high 18, while Secean Johnson added 14, Boezeman scored 13 and Taylor Johns, playing in his first game since serving a five-game suspension for violating team rules added 14.

The Highlanders travel to LMU Sunday for a 3 pm PT tip against the Lions.