Long Beach, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team traveled all day Friday back to the mainland from Hawai'i, tipping at Long Beach State at 4 pm Saturday and looking every bit like a team still trying to gets its legs under it. The Highlanders committed 18 turnovers against the 49ers, made just 12 of 21 free throws and ive of 26 three-pointers in a 66-55 loss.

Less than 48 hours earlier, UC Riverside was celebrating a 77-71 road win against Hawai'i—the top-ranked team in the Big West. They accomplished that thanks in part to a 27 of 32 performance from the charity stripe and an eight for 20 effort from three-point range.

The Highlanders jumped out to an early seven-point lead at the Beach, scoring 13 of the first 19 points of the game. Secean Johnson scored six points during that run, finishing with a game-high 19.

The 49ers flipped the script over the next five minutes, though, going on an 18-1 run to lead by nine, 23-14, with 6:43 to go in the first.

UC Riverside sliced the Long Beach State advantage to six at the half and five with 6:12 remaining in the second, but were never quite able to close the gap.

Johnson was the only member of the Highlanders to score in double fighures going six for 11 from the field. The rest of the team went just 13 for 37.

Nick Faust led Long Beach with 17 points followed by Gabe Levin's 13 and Noah Blackwell's 10.

The Highlanders remain on the road next week traveling to UC Santa Barbara for a 7 pm PT tip on Thursday, March 3.