LAS VEGAS, Nev.— The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team (0-3) ended its opening road stint Tuesday night at UNLV as the Highlanders fell 72-51 to the Running Rebels.
"UNLV set the tone early in the game," Head Coach David Patrick said. "They were aggressive and dove for loose balls and got to the rim and crashed the boards. We played hard towards the end of the game, but weren't as aggressive for all 40 minutes."
The Highlanders got out to a slow start as the Rebels jumped out to a 19-9 lead in the first 10 minutes, but quickly responded with a 9-0 run on the back of three straight threes by junior Eric Rwahwire, sophomore Dominick Pickett, and senior Menno Dijkstra.
UCR would grab its first and only lead of the game on a three ball by junior Dikymbe Martin that put the team up 23-22. UNLV would then end the half on a 13-2 run heading to the locker room up 35-25.
The Rebels extended its lead in the 2nd half, but UCR never quit as some new faces in sophomore Ajani Kennedy and freshmen DJ McDonald and Kendall Stubblefield each took the floor for the first time this season hitting some shots, playing aggressive and shrinking the Rebel lead.
"I think DJ, Ajani, and Kendall went out there in their first game and played hard and showed a lot of confidence," Patrick said. "Anytime you play hard the other team is gonna be on their heels."
Despite a late 2nd half surge by the Highlander bench, the Rebels would hold on to take their first win of the season 72-51.
Martin once again led the team in both minutes and points scoring 14 in 33 minutes. the junior guard shot an efficient 5-for-8 from the field and added a pair of rebounds and assists.
Rwahwire and freshman Zac Watson led the rebounding efforts with each grabbing six a piece.
UC Riverside will now return to the SRC Arena for its Homecoming game this Saturday at 7:00 PM as the Highlanders will host the Golden Bobcats of UC Merced.
"It'll be refreshing to play at home in front of our fans for the first time," Patrick said. "We're going to get back to work this week and look to have some success on Saturday."
GAME NOTES
UCR struggled to take care of the ball and rebound defensively tallying 20 turnovers and allowing 14 offensive rebounds to UNLV. The Rebels cashed in those opportunities for 25 total points.
Ajani Kennedy was ejected in the 2nd half for a Flagrant-2.
The Rebels won the points in the paint battle 28-18 as the Highlanders found their success behind the arc hitting 9 threes.
UNLV took 33 shots from the stripe compared to UCR's seven.
All but two players that saw minutes tonight scored at least two points (UCR- Watson and Stubblefield). Only three total players were in double figures (UCR- Martin, UNLV- Hamilton and Beck).
The Rebels only turned the ball over four times in the 1st, but pressure from the Highlanders saw them end the game with 13.
