RIVERSIDE, Calif – UC Riverside's Men's Basketball team fell to Long Beach State 67-71 in an exciting overtime game Saturday night. The loss drops UCR to 9-19 and 3-9 in conference play.
 
The Highlanders had a strong team effort in the first half leading 32-26. Sophomore Jordan Gilliam led the charge in the half with nine points on 4-6 shooting. He finished with 15 points to go along with six rebounds in the game. Head Coach David Patrick talked about Gilliam's convincing week of practice translating to the game, "Jordan had a good week in practice… He brought good energy tonight."
 
In a game that had six lead changes, the Highlanders show tremendous effort on the defensive side of the ball. UCR held an athletic LBSU team to just 36% from the field and 26% from three. Coach Patrick echoed his pleasure with the team's defensive effort, "I thought we did a pretty good job defending tonight."
 
Freshman Callum McCrae recorded his second career double-double posting a career high 16 points and 10 rebounds. The freshman has posted back-back games with double figure scoring.
 
Junior Dikymbe Martin added 14 points and five assists in a game where he logged a season high 41 minutes. Freshman Zac Watson had a stout game defensively with four steals.
 
UCR will look to continue their strong defense next Wednesday, February 27^th at Cal State Northridge.