Box Score Santa Barbara, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team was looking for its first-ever win at the Thunderdome Thursday evening, but cold second half shooting on the part of the Highlanders helped UC Santa Barbara to a 68-61 victory.

After closing the gap to one at the intermission, the Highlanders (7-18, 5-9) struggled out of the locker room in the second half. The Gauchos (5-21, 3-11) scored the first eight points of the period, and UC Riverside was never able to get its offensive rhythm back. The Highlanders made eight of 32 shots after the break, as UC Santa Barbara increased its lead to as many as 15.

The Gauchos' lone senior, Eric Childress led the offensive charge for UCSB scoring a game-high 21 points, while Alex Hart narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 15 rebounds. Childress scored 15 of his points in the first half, fueling a 12-0 Gauchos run that saw UCSB push its lead to 23-11 with 12:01 to go in the period.

The Highlanders clawed their way back in, and nearly took the lead at the half, but the officials ruled that Gentrey Thomas' lay up was still in his hands at the buzzer.

Menno Dijkstra and Malik Thames helped fuel UC Riverside's comeback, combining to score 15 points on six of nine shooting over the first 20 minutes of play.

Thames finished with a team-high 14 points, while Secean Johnson added a dozen, and Thomas scored 10.

The Highlanders are at home for the final two games of the 2016-17 regular season, hosting Cal Poly on Saturday, February 25, and closing out the year with a Wednesday, March 1 game against UC Irvine. The game against the Mustangs is being televised on Fox Sports Prime Ticket, and is set to tip at 5 pm PT.