Riverside, CA – The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team (8-19, 3-10) came away with a 69-65 win over Cal State Fullerton (15-10, 8-5) Wednesday night, moving into a three-way tie for the No. 7 seed in the Big West. Four different Highlanders scored in double-figures, led by sophomore guard Dikymbe Martin's 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
KEY RUNS
UC Riverside came out of the halftime break trailing 33-27. A pair of Menno Dijkstra triples would fuel a 12-1 Highlander run, as the home side took a 44-38 lead with 10:55 to go.
The Titans would tie the game once after that, but the Highlanders found the answers they needed down the stretch. Martin poured in 17 second half points while connecting on 5-of-7 (.714) from the field, knocking down a pair of free throws with just under a minute remaining to give UCR its largest lead of the night, 63-55.
The Highlanders outscored Fullerton 42-32 over the final 20 minutes, thanks in large part to its defense. After shooting 60.9 percent (14-23 FG) in the first half, Fullerton was held to just 33.3 percent (10-30 FG) in the second.
GAME NOTES
With the win, UC Riverside now holds the same conference record as both Cal Poly (8-19, 3-10) and CSUN (6-21, 3-10). If the playoffs were to begin today, the Highlanders would possess the No. 8 seed, currently holding the tiebreaker over CSUN.
Starting for the first time since Jan. 11, Martin led the way with 19 points, going a near-perfect 7-for-8 (.875) on free throws. The 19 points tied a conference season-high for the sophomore, who had his most efficient shooting night (.600) during Big West play.
Also hitting double-digits in the scoring department for UC Riverside were Brandon Rosser (11 points), Alex Larsson (11), and Chance Murray (10). Rosser put together one of his best all-around performances of the year, leading his team with season-highs of 8 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Murray was the only player to stay on the court for a full 40 minutes on the night, tallying 4 assists and 4 steals to go along with his 10 points. Over the past two games, the senior is now averaging 5.5 assists and 5.5 steals per game.
The Highlanders set a new conference season-high at the charity stripe, making 21-of-28 (.750) free throws.
UC Riverside was out-rebounded 38-26, but had half of the Titans' turnover total (10 to 20). Surprisingly enough, the Highlanders have now won their last two games when being out-rebounded by at least 12.
After picking up their third win in their last five outings, the Highlanders will head back on the road this Saturday to face UC Davis at 5:00 p.m.
