Box Score Northridge, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team came up just short Saturday evening in its first attempt at tying the 2008-09 version of the Highlanders for the most Big West wins in a season in program history, dropping an 83-76 decision at CSUN.
UCR also fell a game behind Long Beach State, who defeated Cal State Fullerton, 70-47, earlier in the day, and into a tie with idle Hawai'i at 7-7. The 2008-09 team finished the year 8-8 in Big West play.
Neither team led by more than four points in the first half, but the Matadors scored the first six points coming out of the break to go up 42-36.
Charles Standifer ended the run making one of two free throws with 5:35 gone in the second half, but Stephan Hicks drained a three-pointer on CSUN's next possession to make it an eight-point Matadors advantage, 45-37.
The Highlanders chipped away at the lead closing it to three, 63-60, with 6:16 to go, and with less than five minutes remaining, Jaylen Bland drained back-to-back threes to make it a two-point game, 68-66. A pair of missed shots on CSUN's next possession gave the ball back to UCR, and Johns scored on a reverse layup to tie the score at 68. That was also his 20th point of the night, and the 1,000th of his collegiate career.
The next four Matadors points came from the free throw line putting them back on top 72-68 with 2:22 to go, giving them a lead they would never relinquish.
Both teams looked tight in the early going missing as the Matadors missed 13 of their first 16 shots over the first 9:10 while UC Riverside went 5 for 15 from the floor over that span. The offense picked up later in the period, but neither team could shake the other, and they entered the locker room tied at 36.
Parks led all scorers with 29 points going 19 of 23 from the free throw line, while Johns paced UC Riverside with 21. The Highlanders were whistled for 32 personal fouls which is tied for the fourth most in the history of the program.
| 2014-15 Big West Standings |
| Team | W | L |
| UC Davis | 12 | 2 |
| UC Irvine * | 10 | 3 |
| UC Santa Barbara * | 8 | 5 |
| Long Beach State | 8 | 6 |
| UC Riverside | 7 | 7 |
| Hawai'i | 7 | 7 |
| Cal Poly | 6 | 9 |
| CSUN | 4 | 11 |
| Cal State Fullerton | 1 | 13 |
| x | | |
| UC Irvine at UC Santa Barbara tipped late, and is not reflected in this chart. |
