RIVERSIDE—A dominant, 29-14, fourth quarter was the difference in UC Riverside's, 80-64, victory over CBU in the Crosstown Showdown Thursday night at the SRC Arena.
The Highlanders were led by the double-doubles of Jannon Otto, 21 points-14 rebounds, and Keilanei Cooper, 18 points-11 rebounds. They also timely got buckets from Marina Ewodo, who had 17 points and five boards, in addition to the splendid point-guard play from Andriana Kasapi, who dished out a career-high eight assists and had zero turnovers.
"This was a great team win. We stayed true to the game plan. They worked really hard to make sure we did the little things right." said Head Coach Seyram Bell.
The first three quarters were played at close range as neither team was able to establish more than a five-point advantage, and the fourth began with UCR ahead by one, 51-50, thanks to Cooper's deep three-pointer as time expired in the third.
UCR seized control early in the fourth with a, 10-2, spurt that featured back-to-back threes by Lauryn Pointer and Cooper that caused CBU to call for time with the score, 61-52. Later in the period with 2:50 to play, the Lancers cut into the Highlander margin to make a seven-point game, 69-62.
On the next trip down the floor, Cooper whipped a pass into the lane for Otto, who snagged it out of harm's way with one hand and scored over two defenders. That bucket sparked an 11-2 run by the Highlanders to closeout the game en route to an, 80-64, victory in the second DI edition of the Crosstown Showdown."It was nice to see them make plays late and be in a position to apply pressure. I also loved seeing how excited they were for each other." said Bell.
In the decisive fourth period, the Highlanders rose to the occasion in impressive fashion, shooting 9-14 (64.3%) from the field, 2-6 from distance, and a steady 9-of-10 (90%) at the free-throw line.
The blue and gold also locked in defensively, holding the Lancers to 4-15 (26.7%) shooting, one-of-nine (11.1%) from three in addition to outrebounding them, 18-1, in the final frame. The Highlanders had five players grab six or more rebounds, matching the Lancers' team-high.
UCR posted season-best totals in assists (19), rebounds (57), field goals made (29), points scored (80), blocks (6) and for the second game in a row, a season-low 13 turnovers.
LOOKING FORWARD
"We got a couple days off, and we still got prepare, we got Oregon, Southern Utah, VCU and ourselves and our classes."
The Highlanders will break for finals next week, before heading to Eugene to face the #5 ranked Oregon Ducks on Monday, November 16th.
