RIVERSIDE, Calif.— The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team (5-8) earned its second straight victory Saturday afternoon downing a hot Loyola Marymount (11-2) team that entered the contest with just one loss. Behind strong defensive efforts and a few big runs, the Highlanders held the Lions to their lowest scoring night of the year and took a 60-53 win. UCR has now won its last three home contests and improves to a 4-1 record.
"I think we have making steps in the right direction and I have seen these guys getting better and better," Head Coach David Patrick. "Bringing a new team together can be tough but this team is really understanding what we are trying to do and they're coming together at the right time."
UC Riverside got out to a hot start to begin the game jumping out to a 17-8 lead thanks to some pure shooting by freshman guard Dragan Elkaz. In a matter of two and a half minutes, Elkaz racked up 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting hitting three from behind the arc to put the Highlanders up.
Sophomore guard Dominick Pickett drew his second straight start for the Highlanders and was major part of the team's first half success dishing out seven assists and collecting three boards in the first 20 minutes.
"I think it is important for everybody to understand their role," Pickett said. "I know have great shooters on both sides of me in Dragan and Dikymbe so its my job to dish it out and I know they're going to knock it down."
Despite an early surge from the Highlanders, the Lions would hang around and eventually tie the game at halftime. Both teams would enter the locker rooms iced at 31-31.
UCR had a similar start in the 2nd half scoring consistently and stretching out to its largest lead of the night, as the team found itself up 47-37 with under 10 minutes to go, but again LMU would punch back to tie it at 49-49 with four minutes left.
Down the stretch, the Highlanders' defense and free throw shooting truly lifted them to this victory as UCR knocked down 11-of-12 from the stripe and held LMU to just one point in the final four minutes. The Highlanders also forced three turnovers during this time, none bigger than a steal by Pickett with 35 seconds to go that would effectively seal the win for UCR.
"Coach Patrick talks a lot about being scrappy and making the scrappy play," Pickett said. "I was able to lead their guy right into the help defense and my teammates and I came up with the ball."
This marked Pickett's fourth steal of the day to go along with four clutch points at the line and team highs with eight assists and six rebounds.
Junior guard Dikymbe Martin led all scorers with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting and Elkaz and freshman Zac Watson joined him in double figures notching 11 and 10, respectively.
UC Riverside took care of the ball all night turning it over just eight times compared to LMU's 16. The Highlanders also shared the ball well assisting on 14-of-19 field goals.
"These guys know that they can beat anybody on our schedule," Patrick said. "It's tough to win early, especially on the road, but these guys have been battle tested and right now we are clicking."
UCR will now head to Air Force on December 28th, before facing Western Michigan on the 30th.
