Fullerton, CA—Afte a pair of thrilling, come-from-behind victories against Long Beach State and Cal Poly, the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team will try to make it three straight conference wins Saturday in a 7 pm PT tip at Cal State Fullerton. The game is being broadcast nationally on ESPN3.
The Highlanders erased 13-point deficits against the 49ers (
box score/
recap), and the Mustangs (
box score/
recap) in their two most recent victories, and the script was eerily similar in both contests. In each instance, UCR found itself trailing by double figures midway through the first—27-14 with 10:27 to go against the Beach, and 23-10 with 9:43 remaining at Cal Poly. In each instance, the Highlanders closed the gap by intermission—leading by one against Long Beach State, and trailing by two against the Mustangs. And in each instance, Taylor Johns led a second-half surge that propelled the Highlanders to victory—scoring 18 of his season-high 26 points vs. the 49ers after the break, and 13 of his 21 at Cal Poly over the final 20 minutes of play.
Over the past two games, Johns, the reigning Big West Player of the Week (
story), is averaging 23.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.00 blocked shots, while connecting on 17 of 30 shots from the field.
Bland added 15 points against the Mustangs, and is still UC Riverside's scoring leader averaging 16.9 points per game—third highest in the conference. The Saginaw, Michigan native also made two three-pointers at Cal Poly, inching him ever closer to the Highlanders single season and career made three-point field goal records. He now trails Maurice Pullum by 13 for the career mark (193 to 180) and 15 for the single-season record (100-85).
Secean Johnson continued to make his case for Big West Newcomer of the Year honors, scoring 15 points and handing out four assists against the Mustangs. He is now averaging 11.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists on the season while making 38.5 percent of his shots from long distance.
UC Riverside's (12-11, 3-4) most recent victories moved them into fifth place in the conference standings a half game back of UC Davis (3-3) and a full game back of Long Beach State (4-3). UC Irvine (6-0) and Hawai'i (5-0) remain undefeated in Big West play.
The last time the Highlanders won three or more consecutive conference games was during the 2011-12 season when they beat four straight Big West opponents from January 5-14 (at UC Davis, at Pacific, vs. UC Santa Barbara, vs. Cal Poly).
Cal State Fullerton is 8-11 heading into the weekend, and 1-5 in Big West competition. The Titans lone conference win came against the Highlanders back on January 7 (box score/recap). Since then, they have dropped five straight including a 69-64 loss at UC Davis on Wednesday.
Tré Coggins, who scored 20 points after the intermission in leading Fullerton over UC Riverside three weeks ago, leads the Titans in scoring at 17.6 points per game, but he did not play Wednesday against the Aggies. In his absence, Cal State Fullerton's second-leading scorer, Khalil Ahmad (15.1 ppg) scored 27 points, while Lionheart Leslie added 18, and Jamar Akoh added 14. The trio combined to make 19 of 35 shots from the field, but the rest of the team went just one for 11.
The Titans make just 41.6 percent of their field goal attempts, which is the lowest figure in the league. However, they connect on 35.6 percent of their three-pointers, which ranks in the middle of the pack, and they get to the free throw line more than any other Big West team making 70.8 percent of their shots from the charity stripe.
The Highlanders are 20-28 all-time against the Titans (
view results), and had a three-game winning streak snapped in their last meeting back on January 7 of this year (
box score/
recap). UC Riverside led by as many as 20 points that night, but Coggins scored 20 second-half points, and Fullerton went to the free throw line 28 times in the second, making 20 to secure the victory.
