ANAHEIM, Calif. – For the second time in as many weeks, UC Riverside (9-22, 4-12) erased a 14-point second half deficit against UC Davis (22-9, 12-4), the Big West's No. 1 seed heading into the postseason.
Despite the Highlanders' perpetual resilience – which seemed to reach new heights with every passing day since the appointment of Justin Bell as the team's Interim Head Coach in early January – they would fall just short of a Big West Tournament Quarterfinal upset on Thursday, seeing their season come to a close in a tightly contested 70-66 defeat.
"Resiliency. I think that's the term to describe our team," said senior guard Chance Murray, who led the Highlanders with 22 points, five assists and three steals. "Coach Bell's done an amazing job with us. He challenged us every day to keep our heads up, to keep pushing. All season we've been through ups-and-downs, but we stuck together and we gutted it out."
Murray scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, including hitting the game-tying jumper to make it 49-49 with 6:43 remaining. That capped a 23-9 Highlander run, bringing UCR level with the Aggies for the first time since the opening ten minutes.
UC Davis kept the Highlanders at bay, scoring 13 of the next 18 points to take a 62-54 advantage with 1:33 to go. UC Riverside was just 2-of-16 from three-point range up to that point, but needing a big bucket coming out of a timeout, sophomore Dikymbe Martin kept his team alive with a big three, cutting the deficit back to five at the 1:16 mark.
Martin's day would come to an end in the final minute as the Highlanders played the foul game, but Murray delivered back-to-back clutch triples of his own, bringing UCR within two points at 65-63 with just 27 seconds left. UC Davis junior Siler Schneider split a pair of free throws on the subsequent possession, leaving the door open for the Highlanders.
In a one possession game, rather than take a contested three, Murray drove the lane, getting a decent look in deep that just rolled off the front of the rim, resulting in a Davis rebound and two more free throws.
The Highlanders would cut it to two points once again on a three-pointer by redshirt freshman Dominick Pickett with just three seconds on the clock, but another pair of Aggie free throws shut the door on the Highlanders' spirited comeback.
"Our guys have grown so much. They've really grown," Bell said. "Early on, I think it was an adjustment period, but we grew, we learned. I stuck to the proverb, 'All hard work brings a profit,' and our coaching staff worked every single day. We tried to do it a certain way, and I think it started to pay off toward the end."
The Highlanders had four double-digit scorers for the first time since Feb. 21, as Martin (13 points), Larsson (11) and senior Brandon Rosser (10) all hit double-figures. With his team trailing by 14 very early in the second half, Rosser (4-8 FG) scored three straight UC Riverside buckets to help keep his team within striking distance.
Larsson finished 4-of-7 (.571) from the field for his 11 points, also pulling down a game-high seven rebounds. Playing in his 120th career game, the senior broke a tie with Austin Quick (2011-15) for the most games ever played in a Highlander uniform.
"As a senior, I've been here for four years, so it's emotional," Larsson said. "I'm really proud of the team, the guys. They're my brothers for life and Coach Bell has done an amazing job. Everything that happened, he still managed to keep us all together. Looking back at it, I wouldn't have done anything different."
Senior Koh Flippin earned both his third consecutive start and his third start of the season, credited to his ability to do all of the little things. The Torrance native was at it again on Thursday, helping hold the Aggies to just 37.5 percent shooting in the second half and finishing with five rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. Flippin also set a UC Riverside postseason record with five steals.
Outside perspectives might have viewed the Highlanders as the Cinderella team entering this year's Big West Tournament, as UCR overcame an 0-8 start to conference play to win four of its last eight games and clinch the No. 8 seed during the final week of the regular season.
That's not the sense that one would have gotten from watching this team closely, though. Led by the contagious energy and belief of Coach Bell and his one-game-at-a-time mentality, the Highlanders entered the postseason confident that they could defeat any team they faced, never viewing themselves as the underdogs.
"The losing brought us all the way together, so when we started to win, it felt so good. We just ran out of days, because we were coming," Bell said. "I think people felt that, too."
