RIVERSIDE, Calif.— The first win of the David Patrick Era came Saturday night for the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team as the Highlanders downed UC Merced 63-53 to cap off the university's Homecoming festivities.
"These guys have worked hard since I got here," Head Coach David Patrick said. "It's great to get my first win but it's even better to get a great win with a great group of guys. I'm very proud of them."
UCR spread the love in its first home game as four different Highlanders scored in double digits.
"The scoring balance is key, not just for tonight, but moving forward as well," Head Coach David Patrick said. "Having four guys in double digits makes us a much harder team to plan for."
The two teams traded off points in the opening minutes, but after a layup by junior Eric Rwahwire put UCR up 11-10, the Highlanders would never sacrifice the lead again.
UC Riverside enjoyed a great shooting performance in the first half going 13-for-25 (.520) as a team and headed into the locker room up 34-26.
The second half was a closer contest, but the Highlander defense truly stood out holding the Golden Bobcats to just 8-of-27 (.296) and zero threes after allowing them a .476 shooting effort and four threes in the first half. A couple strong runs by UCR in the final 20 minutes would help the team separate and eventually take the 63-53 victory.
"Defense is a learned behavior," Patrick explained. "You have to get your hand out every time, you have to block out every time, you have to hedge every time and our guys know that if we do those things well then we have a good chance of staying in any game."
The Highlanders' inside game looked new and improved as after going to the line just four times on Tuesday at UNLV, UC Riverside put up 25 free-throws tonight and added 26 points in the paint. After getting the ball inside with consistency in the second half, the team saw more open looks on the kick-out knocking down 4-of-9 from behind the arc.
Sophomore point guard Jordan Gilliam had his best game yet notching 13 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Junior guard Dikymbe Martin matched the team-high of 13 and Rwahwire and senior center Menno Dijkstra followed just behind with 11 and 10, respectively. Rwahwire also added a team-high eight rebounds and the Highlanders out-rebounded the Golden Bobcats 36-24.
"The game starts with defense," Martin said. "Once we get stops, we can can create space on the offensive end, share the ball with our teammates, and get better looks. Tonight we did that and we finished down the stretch."
The Highlanders will now hit the road again for the Tiger Thanksgiving Tournament in Stockton, CA this coming weekend. The team's first matchup is with host Pacific, Thursday night.
"Winning is contagious," Gilliam said. "Now that we've got one, we want the next one and the next one. We will be ready for Thursday."
